Volleyball Falls to Duke, 3-2, in Tight Contest

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.-The Virginia volleyball team had leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but fell to defending ACC champion Duke, 25-18, 21-25, 26-24, 17-25, 10-15, Saturday evening at Memorial Gymnasium.

With the loss, the Cavaliers fall to 7-10 on the season and 1-6 in ACC action, while the Blue Devils improve to 10-6 and 4-3 in conference action.

Senior Simone Asque (Chicago, Ill.) led the ‘Hoos with 19 kills, while junior Jessica O’Shoney (Austin, Texas) hit .458 with 14 kills and seven blocks.

Junior Beth Wildermuth (San Clemente, Calif) had her second straight 50-assist match, while sophomore Emily Rottman had another double double with 14 kills and 22 digs.

After Duke tied the first set at 11, two Asque kills prompted a 14-7 run by Virginia, who held on for a 25-18 win. UVa hit .464 in the frame compared to the Blue Devils’ .258.

Down 21-16 in the second set, UVa forced a Duke timeout after a kill by Asque that cut the lead to 22-19. The Blue Devils earned the next point, but Farrar answered with two kills to force another Duke timeout at 23-21. The Blue Devils took the next two to win 25-21.

In the third, Duke led 23-18, but Virginia earned three straight points to force a Blue Devil timeout. Jeme Obeime hit a kill out of the timeout for Duke, but Asque followed with five kills in a row to win the set for UVa, 26-24.

In the fourth, Duke hit .351 and held UVa to a .098 hitting percentage en route to a 25-17 win.

Duke jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the decisive fifth, but the ‘Hoos responded with three straight to force a timeout at 6-5. The Blue Devils then went on a 4-1 run to force a UVa timeout. The Cavaliers earned three consecutive points to cut the lead to one, 10-9, but Duke won five out of the next six points to win, 15-10.

Duke led UVa in kills, 77-63, and had 16 more digs, 80-64.

The Cavaliers return to action next weekend when they travel to ACC rivals North Carolina and NC State.