Virginia Tops Wake Forest In Straight Sets
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Box Score Oct. 30, 2015
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Seven different players recorded kills to lift the Virginia volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-20) win over Wake Forest on Friday night in Memorial Gymnasium.
“I thought we were pretty solid tonight in a lot of facets of the game,” head coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “We spent a lot of time on blocking and transition hitting this week and it paid off with 12 blocks tonight. I am pleased how they performed tonight.”
Virginia (15-7, 7-4 ACC) tallied a season-best .330 hitting percentage and put down 12 blocks, while holding Wake Forest (10-14, 2-10 ACC) to just .078 hitting on the night. The Cavaliers had a complete match, leading in assists (42-26), service aces (4-2) and digs (44-40).
Junior Haley Kole (Tallahassee, Fla.) led UVA with 10 kills, while senior Kayla Sears (Moorpark, Calif.) recorded nine. Junior Jasmine Burton (West Hills, Calif.), senior Natalie Bausback (Carlsbad, Calif.) and freshman Anna Walsh (Grapevine, Texas) each added eight.
Senior Lauren Fuller (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) notched a double-double, dishing out 33 assists and leading the Cavaliers with 11 digs. Defensively, Bausback led the way with eight blocks, while seven other players picked up at least one block.
UVA jumped out to the lead early, taking a 5-2 advantage over Wake Forest to open the first set. The Demon Deacons cut the lead to one, but Virginia put together a 5-0 run to stretch its lead to 16-8. The Cavaliers remained in control to take the set, 25-16.
In the second set, the teams saw three ties before Virginia took control with another 5-0 run to lead 8-3. The Cavaliers were leading 20-12, when Wake Forest recorded three-straight points to cut the lead to five. However, UVA closed the set strong with five of the last six points to win 25-16 and take a 2-0 lead into the break.
With momentum in its favor, Virginia took a 9-4 lead in the third set to force an early timeout by the Demon Deacons. UVA led by as many as eight points and was up 22-13, but Wake Forest came back to cut the lead to three, 23-20. The Cavaliers didn’t falter and held on for a 25-20 win.
“We understand that in these last 10 games, we are playing for our NCAA Championship life,” Hohenshelt remarked. “These games are crucial and if we play well and get some wins, we are a team that can be in the tournament. It is a pretty exciting time to have five weeks left in the season and say we are a tournament team, now we have to battle for it. For them to come out tonight with that passion, I was very pleased.”
Virginia will return to Memorial Gymnasium to close out its home stand on Saturday. The Cavaliers host Duke at 7 p.m.