Volleyball Hosts Cavalier Classic to Open 2016 Season

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Aug. 25, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team (0-0) will begin the 2016 season at home with the Fairfield Inn & Suites Cavalier Classic that runs Friday and Saturday in Memorial Gymnasium.

The Cavaliers will host Buffalo (0-0), George Washington (0-0) and Northwestern (0-0). UVA will play two matches on Friday, hosting Buffalo at 11 a.m. and George Washington at 7 p.m. Virginia will close out the tournament against Northwestern on Saturday at 7 p.m.

UVA won its home tournament last season 3-0 with wins over VCU, Appalachian State and Iowa State, and has won it the last three seasons. The last time Virginia opened the season with its home tournament was in 2013.

Virgina returns nine letterwinners from the 2015 season. The Cavaliers finished last season with an 18-13 record overall, 10-10 in ACC. It was the third-straight winning season under head coach Dennis Hohenshelt. Senior Haley Kole (Tallahassee, Fla.) was named to the Preseason All-ACC Team after leading the team with 348 kills last season.

For the second-straight year, Virginia’s recruiting class was ranked No. 30 by PrepVolleyball.com. The class includes six freshmen, Chino Anukwuem, Kiley Banker, Jane Horner, Kelsey Miller, Caroline Scrafford and Jennifer Wineholt.

This will be just the second all-time meeting between Virginia and Buffalo, as UVA won the first match 3-0 in 1998. Buffalo finished 7-22 last season and returns four starters. Bulls head coach Blair Brown Lipsitz was a four-time National Champion at Penn State while Hohenshelt was an assistant coach.

George Washington and UVA are meeting for the 17th time, with the Colonials leading the series 11-5. Virginia has lost its last four matches against GW, including a 3-2 loss at home in 2010. The Colonials had their second-consecutive 20-win season in 2015. Kelsey Clark returns after earning Atlantic 10 Co-Rookie of the Year along with all-conference selections Chidima Osuchukwu and Maddy Doyle.

The Cavaliers have lost all three previous meetings against Northwestern, most recently falling 3-0 in 2014. The Wildcats return all six starters and 12 letterwinners from last season’s squad that finished 14-17 overall. Symone Abbott returns after leading Northwestern with 387 kills as a freshman and setter Taylor Tashima averaged 10.89 assists per set in 2015.

Live stats for all six matches will be available through VirginiaSports.com. The first 100 students at Friday morning’s match will receive free pizza.

Game-day parking for volleyball matches is available free of charge at the Culbreth Road Garage, located behind Carr’s Hill Field. Limited parking is available at the Central Grounds Garage (hourly rates apply).