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Virginia's Comeback Falls Short at NC State
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Box Score Nov. 20, 2016
RALEIGH, N.C. – The Virginia volleyball team fell short in a five set match at NC State, 3-2 (25-16, 25-23, 24-26, 23-25, 15-12) on Sunday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum.
Virginia (7-23, 4-14 ACC) climbed back into the match after dropping the first two sets to NC State (18-12, 11-7 ACC), winning the third set 26-24 and the fourth 25-23 to send it to a tie-breaking fifth set. After trailing 11-7 in the fifth, UVA mounted a 4-0 run to tie the set at 11-11, but NC State scored four of the final five points to win 15-12 and secure the match.
“We simply need to be better in crunch time,” head coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “I felt we lost this game when we couldn’t close out the second set. We should never have gotten to game five. I like that we battle back and I think it says a lot about the character of the players on our team, but we need to be precise when we get in that fifth set.”
The Cavaliers finished with 65 kills on .237 hitting percentage, while the Wolfpack had 64 kills on a .259 attack percentage. UVA led with 15.0 blocks to 11.0, but NC State had a 9-3 advantage in service aces and 75-62 edge in digs.
Senior Jasmine Burton (West Hills, Calif.) led UVA with 18 kills and added a career-high 12 digs for a double-double. Fellow senior Haley Kole (Tallahassee, Fla.) had 15 kills with five blocks. Freshman Kiley Banker (West Lafayette, Ind.) tallied a career-high 11 kills and had a team-best eight blocks.
Freshman setter Jennifer Wineholt (San Diego, Calif.) dished out 46 assists, had a career-high six kills and added nine digs and seven blocks in the match. Senior Lexi Riccolo (Wheaton, Ill.) led the back line with 15 digs.
Virginia and NC State traded points to begin the set, with 10 ties. The Wolfpack used a 6-0 run to take a 17-11 advantage. The Cavaliers halted the run with a kill by Burton and sophomore Harley Sebastian (Atlanta, Ga.) landed a kill to cut it to five, 18-13. A solo block by Wineholt kept UVA within five, but NC State closed the set on a 6-2 run to win 25-16.
NC State took an 11-4 lead over the Cavaliers after a 7-1 run in the second set. UVA came back with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 13-12. Virginia tied the set at 15-15 on a kill by Burton. Down 17-16, kills by Burton and Sebastian followed by a block for Wineholt and Banker put UVA in front 19-17. NC State tied it up once again and the teams traded points with four more ties before the Wolfpack scored two consecutive points to edge out the 25-23 win and lead 2-0.
Down 8-6 in the third set, Virginia went on a 6-0 run to take a 12-8 lead. The Cavaliers were up 16-12 as NC State put together a 6-0 run to regain the lead, 18-16. Burton took control of the set with three-straight kills and a solo block to put Virginia ahead 20-18 and force a NC State timeout. The Cavaliers held onto the lead until the Wolfpack scored two-straight to tie the set at 24-24, but Virginia extended the match with kills by Kole and Riccolo to win 26-24.
Virginia was down 6-3, but stormed back with a 12-2 run that included eight kills, four from Kole, to lead 15-8. NC State had a 3-0 run to cut it to 15-11. Back-to-back kills by Kole and redshirt freshman Kat Young (Chantilly, Va.) put UVA back up by six. NC State scored five of the next six points to cut it to 18-16. Virginia responded with a 4-1 run to lead 22-17 as NC State called timeout. The Wolfpack came back to tie the set at 22-22 with a 5-0 run. Banker halted the run with a kill, then combined with Wineholt for a block and landed the final kill of the set to give UVA the 25-23 win and send it to a tiebreaking fifth.
The Cavaliers were down 11-7, but came back to tie the set at 11-11 after a 4-0 run sparked by a kill for Wineholt then back-to-back blocks for Wineholt and Banker. NC State closed out the match with four of the final five points to win 15-12.
“We have a big match Friday that we need to be ready for,” Hohenshelt said. “It’s senior night and it is against Virginia Tech, so it doesn’t get bigger than that.”
Virginia will close out the 2016 season at home next weekend. The Cavaliers host Virginia Tech on Friday, Nov. 25 in a Commonwealth Clash match, which will also serve as Senior Night. UVA then hosts Pitt on Saturday, Nov. 26 in the final match of the season.