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Virginia Falls to No. 24 Louisville, 3-0
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Box Score Oct. 24, 2015
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team fell to No. 24 Louisville, 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-21) on Saturday night in Memorial Gymnasium. Virginia fell to 14-7 overall and 6-4 in the ACC, while Louisville improved to 16-4 on the season and 10-0 in conference play.
“I thought in the first game from points 1-20 we were good and I thought in game three from 1-20 we were pretty good,” head coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “The players have to understand that they are close, but also need to know what it means to be a really good team in this conference and just not a good team. A really good team is like Louisville right now. We are still growing into that.”
Louisville out-hit the Cavaliers with a .373 hitting percentage to just .189. The teams were even in assists (36-36) and digs (32-32), but the Cardinals also had the advantage in blocks (11-4) and service aces (8-3).
“We lost this match in our hitting and transitions,” Hohenshelt stated. “It is not off of serve-receive, we led in that area, they just out-hit us in transitions. When you look at the games won in three that is the answer. We spend a lot of time on it this week, and I thought we were better at it. When we have chances to score we have to learn to score.”
Juniors Haley Kole (Tallahassee, Fla.) and Jasmine Burton (West Hills, Calif.) led the Cavaliers with nine kills each and senior Kayla Sears (Moorpark, Calif.) added eight. Defensively, senior Natalie Bausback (Carlsbad, Calif.) led with nine digs and freshman Anna Walsh (Grapevine, Texas) collected three blocks.
Virginia had the early lead in the first set, up 5-2 after a block by Walsh and Sears. Louisville tied the set up twice, but the Cavaliers remained in control. With the set tied 17-17, the Cardinals had three-straight points to take a 20-17 lead.
UVA cut the lead to one with a 3-0 run to force a Louisville timeout, but couldn’t retake the lead as the Cardinals held on for a 25-22 win. In the second set, Louisville used a 7-1 run to go up 18-11. Virginia was unable to overcome the deficit as the Cardinals took the set, 25-12.
It was another close battle in the third set with 12 ties as neither team led by more than two points. The Cavaliers were down one 22-21, but three-straight points gave Louisville the 25-21 win.
“It is exciting to be home for a while because we can get into some training rhythm,” Hohenshelt said. “We will go volunteer tomorrow at the Special Olympics and try to get in the gym and train a little bit. Last week was probably the longest stretch we have had to train in a long time and so hopefully we can get healthy and do more of those things.”
Virginia will be back at home next weekend to host Wake Forest on Friday (Oct. 30) and Duke on Saturday (Oct. 31).