Virginia Faces Tough Tests at Louisville, Notre Dame
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (9-12, 1-7 ACC) travels to challenge two teams tied for second in the ACC standings in Louisville (14-4, 7-1 ACC) and Notre Dame (14-4, 7-1 ACC). The Cavaliers take on the Cardinals on Friday night (Oct. 25) in a 7 p.m. first serve before facing the Irish on Sunday (Oct. 27) at 1 p.m.
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 LOUISVILLE
• Virginia is just 3-7 all-time against the Cards and has dropped the past three meetings in the series.
• In the 2018 meeting, Virginia took the 21st-ranked Cards to five sets before coming up short.
• This is Virginia’s fifth trip to Louisville in the series and the Cavaliers are 2-2 on the road against the Cards.
AGAINST NOTRE DAME
• Virginia holds a slender 5-4 lead in the all-time series against the Irish.
• The Cavaliers have dropped three-straight in the series, including a 3-1 decision last season.
• Virginia is 2-1 all-time in South Bend with wins in 2013 and 2016. The loss came in the 2017 season.
MIDDLES LEADING THE PACK
Virginia’s middle blockers Milla Ciprian (St. John’s, Fla.) and Mattison Matthews (Charleston, S.C.) both rank among the top 10 in the ACC in hitting percentage. Matthews is third in the league with a .400 hitting percentage. Ciprian is just behind in sixth with a .361 hitting percentage.
In ACC matches only, Ciprian ranks third in hitting percentage with a .436 clip and Matthews fifth at .405 through eight matches. Both middles also average better than one block per set.
CIPRIAN CATCHING FIRE
Ciprian produced a career day against NC State last Friday (Oct. 18) as the sophomore floored a career-high 16 kills. Ciprian committed just three errors with the 16 terminations to hit .481 in the match. In addition, she served up a pair of aces and jumped for two blocks to set a career high with 19 points scored.
Ciprian continued her strong play by going 6-for-9 with no errors against UNC. She also added an ace in that match and posted three total blocks.
STILL THE ONE
Senior Jelena Novkaovic (Belgrade, Serbia) continues to lead the ACC in service aces with 38 on the season. The total ranks 15th in the country while her 0.51 ace per set average leads the ACC and ranks 19th nationally.
Novakovic’s 38 aces are the most by a Cavalier since Tori Janowski produced 46 in the 2013 season.
UP NEXT
Following the weekend on the road, Virginia returns home to open a four-match homestand in Memorial Gymnasium. The Cavaliers host Duke on Friday, Nov. 1 and Wake Forest on Sunday, Nov. 3.