Virginia Edged by Duke in Five Sets
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Box Score Sept. 24, 2016
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team fell to Duke in a close five-set match, 3-2 (22-25, 32-30, 25-22, 24-26, 15-7) on Saturday night in Memorial Gymnasium.
“If we play like we played tonight with that effort and a little bit of execution, we are going to beat a lot of people,” head coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “I told them I was as proud of their effort tonight as I have been this season. This team has to figure out that they need to play with that passion and energy everyday in practice, then it becomes natural in the games.”
Senior Haley Kole (Tallahassee, Fla.) scored a career-high 25 kills to help Virginia (3-11, 0-2 ACC) comeback and send the match to a tie-breaking fifth set after trailing 2-1, but Duke (8-4, 2-0 ACC) had its best offensive set with a .357 hitting percentage to take the win.
Duke led in hitting percentage, .173-.141 and had an 18.0-13.0 edge in blocks. Virginia led with six service aces to four.
Kole recorded her second double-double of the season with 13 digs to go along with the 25 kills. Redshirt junior Alex Thorson (Spring, Texas) added 15 kills and senior Jasmine Burton (West Hills, Calif.) finished with nine to lead the offense. Four players finished with double-digit kills for the Blue Devils.
Freshman Chino Anukwuem (East Hanover, N.J.) tallied seven blocks, while fellow freshman Kiley Banker (West Lafayette, Ind.) added five. Senior Lexi Riccolo (Wheaton, Ill.) notched 23 digs and freshman Kelsey Miller (Crestwood, Ky.) had 13.
In the first set, the Cavaliers used a 5-0 run to take a 10-5 advantage and force a timeout by Duke. The Blue Devils would cut the lead to one, 16-15, but UVA responded with another run to extend its lead once again and hold on to take the first set 25-22.
Virginia fell behind early in the second set, but fought back to tie it up at 6-6. The teams traded the lead several times and a 3-0 run put the Cavaliers ahead 14-11. However, Duke responded with a run out of a timeout to regain the lead. UVA would then tie the set at 24-24 to send it to extra points. Duke had the early advantage several times, and then Virginia went up for set point but couldn’t convert as Duke eventually took the set 32-30 to tie the match at 1-1.
Duke scored the first seven points in the third set. Virginia climbed back in to cut the lead to two multiple times but couldn’t get any closer as the Blue Devils won 25-22 to lead 2-1.
The fourth set was close early, until the Cavaliers broke away with a 4-0 run to lead 11-7. Duke closed the gap and tied the set at 22-22 to force a timeout by UVA. There were two more ties before a kill by Thorson followed by a kill for Kole secured the 26-24 win for Virginia to send the match to a fifth set. The Cavaliers had their best offensive performance with a .311 hitting percentage in the fourth set.
In the fifth set, Duke took control with a 5-0 run to go up 7-2. The Cavaliers were unable to cut into the deficit as the Blue Devils took the win 15-7.
Virginia will be back on the road next weekend. The Cavaliers travel to Virginia Tech on Friday, Sept. 30 for a Commonwealth Clash match, before heading to Pitt on Sunday, Oct. 2.