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Virginia Tops Wake Forest in Four Sets
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team won an exciting four-set match over Wake Forest in Memorial Gymnasium on Friday evening by scores of 25-16, 21-25, 26-24 and 25-17.
Sophomore Simone Asque notched her fourth 20-kill match in the past seven contests, leading the team with a match-high 24. The outside hitter also collected 11 digs to register her fifth double-double this season.
Junior Kendahl Voelker helped the attack, tallying 14 kills in 24 swings, while committing just one error, for a season-best .542 attack percentage. Freshman Rachel Gray dished out a match-high 49 assists.
Defensively, senior Brittani Rendina collected a match-high 27 digs, while senior Tara Hester notched her second career 20-dig match, tallying 20. Junior AJ Cushman also had a solid defensive game, picking up 14 digs.
At the net, Asque had a career-high seven blocks, including three solo, while junior Sydney Hill contributed five. Freshman Jess O’Shoney added four, while Voelker had three.
For Wake Forest (9-18, 7-9 ACC), Kristen White led the way with a double-double of 10 kills and 15 digs. Megan Thornberry led the team in digs, with 21, while Carlin Salmon, Kadija Fornah and Andrea Beck each knocked down 12 kills. Kelsey Jones dished out 43 assists and had 11 digs. Beck also had six blocks.
Sophomore Tess Udall led Virginia to a 13-point lead in the first set, knocking down a game-high five kills. The Cavaliers had 15 kills as a team in the set, while committing only two errors, and the defense held the Deacons to a .140 clip. Down 23-10, Wake Forest attempted a comeback, using a 6-1 run to cut Virginia’s lead to eight, but a kill from Hill secured a 25-16 win.
Wake Forest took a 7-4 lead in the second set, forcing a Virginia timeout. Out of the short intermission, the Cavaliers worked to tie the score at 13, but the Deacons would maintain their advantage, winning the set, 25-21.
The Demon Deacon’s again took an early lead in the third set, but the Cavaliers responded, putting together a 5-0 run to take a 16-13 advantage. Wake Forest worked back from the deficit, pulling head 24-23, but Virginia pushed the frame into extra points on a kill from Asque. The Deacons committed an attack error to give the Cavaliers the set-point opportunity and Asque capped off the 3-0 run with a thrilling solo block, giving Virginia a 26-24 win.
The squads were very evenly matched at the beginning of the fourth set, tying the score four times. But with the score tied at seven, the Cavaliers went on a six-point run and never looked back, taking the frame by a score of 25-17.
Virginia (12-15, 7-9 ACC) will return to action tomorrow evening, hosting Duke in its final match of the season in Memorial Gymnasium. First serve is set to begin at 7 p.m., with the Cavaliers’ three seniors, Lauren Dickson, Tara Hester and Brittani Rendina, being honored before the contest. Fans are encouraged to park in the Emmet/Ivy parking garage due to the conflict with the football game.