Virginia Treks to Boston College, Syracuse
Match Notes | Watch | Live Stats
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia volleyball (9-8, 1-3 ACC) concludes a four-game road swing with matches at Boston College (13-4, 4-0 ACC) and Syracuse (4-7, 1-3 ACC) over the weekend. The Cavaliers will visit Boston College for a 7:30 p.m. first serve on Friday (Oct. 11) before traveling to Syracuse for a 1 p.m. matchup on Sunday (Oct. 13).
GAME COVERAGE
Both matches will air on ACCNX. ACCNX streams via the ESPN App and is available to authenticated subscribers of ACC Network. Links for the live stream and in-game live stats are available on VirginiaSports.com.
AGAINST THE EAGLES
• Virginia is 18-5 all-time against Boston College and 8-4 all-time when on the road in the series.
• The Cavaliers and Eagles split a home-and-home last season, with each team winning on its home court.
• In the first meeting last season, middle blocker Milla Ciprian (St. John’s, Fla.) set a school-record for blocks in a five-set match with 13 rejections in Virginia’s victory.
• Sarah Billiard (Matthews, N.C.) floored 24 kills in that match while hitting .373 in a near career day.
AGAINST THE ORANGE
• Virginia is just 3-8 all-time against Syracuse with the Orange taking the last six matches. Those six matches are the only meetings as ACC foes.
• In the 2018 meeting, Syracuse earned a sweep in a tightly-fought match, 26-24, 25-23, 25-21. Virginia led the match in kills but 27 errors upended the upset bid.
• Billiard had 11 kills to lead the Cavaliers and Ciprian added another eight.
CHALLENGING START
Virginia sits at 1-3 in ACC play after two weeks, but the Cavaliers have faced perhaps the most challenging slate of matches in the league. Virginia has already battled three of the top six teams in the ACC and face a fourth on Friday night at Boston College.
Despite losing a second starter to injury in the first set at No. 23 Florida State, Virginia pushed the Seminoles in a four-set loss before taking Miami the distance in a five-setter.
BILLIARD ON A ROLL
After a slow start to the season, Billiard has been on fire in recent weeks. The junior has racked up double-digit kills in each of her last three matches and six of the last seven. Billiard terminated 15 attacks at Florida State before finishing 17 times at Miami.
In that seven-game span, Billiard leads Virginia with 86 kills to average 3.19 per set.
M IS FOR MIDDLE
Virginia features a pair of young and talented middles in Mattison Matthews (Charleston, S.C.) and Milla Ciprian. Each rank among the top 10 in the ACC in hitting percentage this season with Matthews sitting fourth at .396 and Ciprian sixth at .348.
Both also average better than one block per set with Ciprian at 1.07 and Matthews just behind at 1.02. For her career, Ciprian already has 170 total blocks in just 41 matches played. Matthews is on pace to finish among the top five in blocks per set by a freshman at Virginia, a list that Ciprian tops.
UP NEXT
Virginia returns home to face NC State on Friday, Oct. 18 before welcoming North Carolina on Sunday, Oct. 20.