Cavaliers Drop Four-Set Match to Clemson Saturday

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CLEMSON, S.C. – The Virginia volleyball closed out its weekend with a 1-3 (25-22, 18-25, 23-25, 15-25) loss to Clemson in Jervey Gymnasium. In a very evenly matched contest throughout the first three sets, the Cavalier struggled to hold on as Clemson ran away with the fourth set for the match win.

The Cavaliers were led by Simone Asque who landed a team-high 17 kills, while junior Kendahl Voelker knocked down 11. Defensively, senior Brittani Rendina collected 19 digs and classmate Tara Hester had 18, while junior AJ Cushman contributed 17.

Freshman Jessica O’Shoney blocked a match-high six attacks and classmate Rachel Gray led all players with 46 assists.

In addition, with her first kill of the match, senior Lauren Dickson became the 14th Cavalier to reach the 1,000 career kills plateau. She currently has 1,002.

For Clemson (23-8, 13-6 ACC), Lia Proctor paced the attack with 20 kills, while Didem Ege collected 21 digs. Kelsey Murphy distributed 43 helpers.

Behind solid play at the net by Gray, the Cavaliers were able to gain a slight edge throughout the opening set and held onto it until Clemson rallied for a three-point run to take a two-point lead at 21-19, forcing Virginia to call a timeout. The Cavaliers responded with back-to-back kills out of the slight intermission, before Asque stepped up for Virginia, knocking down two kills and a block, to lead UVa to a 25-22 set win.

Clemson used three-consecutive kills and an ace at the beginning of the second set to pull ahead 8-4. The squads traded points throughout the middle of the frame, before another run by Clemson gave the Tigers a seven-point lead at 23-17 allowing them to cruise to a 25-18 victory.

The Cavaliers worked for a 19-14 lead throughout the third frame, but two three-point runs by Clemson evened the score at 20 all. Virginia snapped the streak with two-unanswered points, but the Tigers would win five of the final six points to take the set 25-23.

A 10-point run in favor of the Tigers at the beginning of the fourth frame doomed the Cavaliers. Behind 13-3, Virginia rallied to cut its deficit to six, but it wouldn’t be enough as Clemson went on to win 25-15.

Virginia (12-18, 7-12 ACC) will conclude its season on Wednesday, heading to Virginia Tech for a 5 p.m., contest at Cassell Coliseum.