Asque Leads Cavaliers to Sweep of Maryland

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Virginia volleyball team started its two-match road swing with a convincing 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-19) victory at the University of Maryland on Friday evening in the Comcast Pavilion.

Landing a season-high in kills, and tying a career-high, sophomore Simone Asque led Virginia’s attack by tallying a match-high 21 kills. Junior Sydney Hill helped paced the attack with eight, while junior Kendahl Voelker contributed seven.

Freshman Rachel Gray dished out 35 helpers to control the offense and senior Brittani Rendina led the defense with 16 digs. Senior Tara Hester added a season-best 11 digs and from behind the line, junior AJ Cushman landed two service aces to go with eight digs.

For Maryland (10-13, 2-8 ACC), Maddi Lee knocked down a team-best 10 kills, while Sam Rosario collected a match-high 21 digs. Katie Usher tallied nine kills on 15 attempts, with no errors, and added three blocks.

Virginia used an 8-3 run midway through the opening frame to gain control of a close battle, forcing the Terrapins to use both of their timeouts. But the Cavaliers were unable to gain momentum with the lead, as Maryland responded with a 4-0 run out of a short intermission, cutting Virginia’s advantage to 17-13. The Terrapins continued to chip into the Cavaliers’ lead, coming as close as two, at 20-18, before Virginia strung together four-straight points behind the service of Cushman, bringing the score to 24-18. Asque secured the win at 25-19 by knocking down her 10th kill of the frame.

The Cavaliers opened the second set on a 4-0 run, but that would turn out to be the largest lead that either team would hold, as there were 11 tie scores and 10 lead changes throughout the stanza. With the score tied at 22, Maryland committed an attack error and called a timeout. Asque then landed a kill out of the break to give Virginia a set point opportunity, 24-22, but an attack error brought the Terrapins within one. The Cavaliers again relied on Asque to deliver the set-point kill, as she led the squad to a 25-23 win.

A 12-4 run in favor of Virginia midway through the third set brought the Cavaliers from behind 5-8 and gave them a commanding 18-12 lead. Virginia built on the lead and the Cavaliers used the momentum to carry them to a 25-19 victory.

Virginia (8-13, 3-7 ACC) will be back in action tomorrow night, facing Boston College in Power Gym. Opening serve is slated for 7 p.m.