Cavaliers Halt Notre Dame, 3-1
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Box Score Oct. 23, 2015
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Three players finished with double-figure kills to lead the Virginia volleyball team to a 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-11, 25-16) win over Notre Dame on Friday night in Memorial Gymnasium.
“We just didn’t get into a flow in the first game,” head coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “It felt like we were a little all over the place. The good thing about this team is they do know how to grind and they work themselves into games. I had that feeling that we would.”
Virginia (14-6, 6-3 ACC) finished with a .282 hitting percentage after hitting over .400 in the final two sets, while holding Notre Dame (6-16, 1-9 ACC) to just .187. UVA also led the Fighting Irish in assists (55-36), digs (56-35) and service aces (8-5). Notre Dame had the edge with 12 blocks to eight.
Junior Haley Kole (Tallahassee, Fla.) led the match with 17 kills, her fourth-straight in double-digits. Senior Natalie Bausback (Carlsbad, Calif.) notched her seventh double-double of the season with 15 kills and 10 digs, while freshman Anna Walsh (Grapevine, Texas) added 10 kills.
Junior Lexi Riccolo (Wheaton, Ill.) led the defensive effort with 16 kills and fellow junior Karlie Suber (Mechanicsville, Va.) added 12. At the net, Bausback notched six blocks and Kole put down five.
Trailing 12-9, Virginia used a 4-0 run to swing the lead in its favor, 13-12, and force a Notre Dame timeout. However, the Fighting Irish countered with a 4-0 run to go back ahead 16-13. UVA came back to cut the lead to one, 20-19, but Notre Dame held on to take the first set 25-19.
It was a battle in the second set as the teams traded the lead eight times and saw 14 ties. The Cavaliers were down, 22-20, when a kill by Bausback and block by Bausback and Kole tied the set at 22-22. It was tied once again at 23-23 when UVA recorded two-straight points to win the set 25-23.
“We played some smart volleyball in the last three points of the second set and started to put some pressure on with our serve, which is a must for us,” Hohenshelt added. “In game three we were tough the whole game and in game four we served the ball with some velocity and put them out of their system.”
The success carried over to the third set for the Cavaliers, who jumped out to 7-3 lead. Virginia continued to put pressure on Notre Dame as it used a 10-1 run to go up 22-7. UVA went on to win the set 25-11 and take a 2-1 lead in the match, hitting .571 in the set.
After falling behind early in the fourth, the Cavaliers rallied to take a 15-10 lead over Notre Dame with a 7-0 run. Virginia remained in the control of the set and closed out the match with a 25-16 win.
UVA will return to Memorial Gym tomorrow night to host No. 24 Louisville at 7 p.m.