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Virginia's Comeback Falls Short at Wake Forest
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Sept. 26, 2015
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Virginia volleyball team won two-straight sets to send the match to a tiebreaking fifth, but could not complete the come back as the Cavaliers fell to Wake Forest, 3-2 (25-19, 25-23, 24-26, 18-25, 15-11), in Reynolds Gymnasium on Saturday night.
“For as good as we were last night, we were equally as bad tonight,” head coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “All of the credit goes to Wake Forest, they played hard and with passion from point one and had us on our heels for most of the game. They brought the fight to us and we did not respond until the third game.”
It came down to a fifth set for the fifth time this season. Virginia (9-4, 1-1 ACC) had the early lead, but was forced to call a timeout after Wake Forest (9-5, 1-1 ACC) went ahead 9-6. The Cavaliers pulled within one, 11-10, but could not stop the Demon Deacon as they went on to win 15-11.
“We did not take care of the little things tonight and it came back to hurt us,” Hohenshelt remarked. “We need to be ready to go every night.”
UVa won the battle at the net with 12 blocks to 11. Wake Forest’s offense had the edge with 70 kills on a .325 hitting percentage, while the Cavaliers hit .261 with 64 kills on the night.
Senior Natalie Bausback (Carlsbad, Calif.) finished with a season-high 19 kills on a .500 hitting percentage. Junior Haley Kole (Tallahassee, Fla.) added 14 kills and senior Kayla Sears (Moorpark, Calif.) tallied 11. Junior Lexi Riccolo (Wheaton, Ill.) led the team with 18 digs.
The first set was back-and-forth until a 5-0 run put Virginia ahead 11-8. The Cavaliers added to the lead with a kill from Kole followed by a block from Sears and freshman Anna Walsh (Grapevine, Texas), but the Demon Deacons used a 6-0 run to go ahead 18-16 and held on for the 25-19 win to lead 1-0.
In the second set, Virginia used an 8-2 run to take an 11-7 lead. The Cavaliers remained in control up 20-17, but Wake Forest put together a run to take the lead 23-20. UVa countered with three-straight points to tie it up at 23-23, but Wake Forest recorded back-to-back points to win the set 25-23.
The third set was a battle with 15 ties, six lead changes and neither team lead by more than three points. The Cavaliers had a three-point advantage several times, but each time Wake Forest fought its way back. The Cavaliers finally closed out the set, 26-24, after an error for Wake Forest and a kill by Kole.
The win sparked the Cavaliers as they surged to an 8-1 lead in the fourth set. Virginia called a timeout down one, which sparked a 5-0 run for the Cavaliers that included back-to-back blocks by Bausback and sophomore Alex Thorson (Spring, Texas). Bausback and Thorson finished with 7 and 6 blocks, respectively. UVa went on to win the fourth set 25-18.
Next weekend Virginia will host Pittsburgh in its ACC home opener on Friday (Oct. 2) before hosting Virginia Tech in a Commonwealth Clash match on Saturday (Oct. 3) in Memorial Gymnasium.