Virginia Travels to Florida State, Miami This Weekend

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team (8-8, 1-5 ACC) travels to Florida State (11-4, 4-2 ACC) on Friday and Miami (14-2, 5-1 ACC) on Sunday. Friday’s contest against the Seminoles is slated for 6:30 p.m., while Sunday’s match is scheduled for 1 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION

• Both matches are slated to stream on ACCNX.
• Live stats can be accessed on the Cavalier volleyball schedule page on com.
• Fans can also get updates by following Virginia Volleyball’s official Twitter account (@UVAVolleyball).

 SERIES HISTORY

• Florida State leads the all-time series over the Cavaliers, 14-41, and owns a 12-match winning streak that dates back to Sept. 23, 2011.
• The Hurricanes lead the all-time series over UVA, 10-18, and are on a nine-match winning streak that dates back to Nov. 9, 2014.

 LAST TIME OUT

• Virginia split its pair of home matches last weekend in Memorial Gymnasium against then-No. 18 Georgia Tech on Friday and Clemson on Sunday.
• Georgia Tech’s Julia Bergmann posted a match-high 18 kills in just three sets and was named this week’s ACC Player of the Week … UVA libero Kristen Leland tallied a match-high 15 digs against Georgia Tech before setting a career high in digs against Clemson.
• Despite going down 2-0, the Cavaliers forced a decisive fifth set against Clemson before ultimately losing its first five-set match since the 2019 season … Virginia posted a season-high 18.0 blocks, the second most among any ACC program in a single match this season … UVA was led by middle blocker Alana Walker, who for the second time this season tied her career high of 11 total blocks … Leland posted a career-best 24 digs against the Tigers, the most by any Cavalier this season.

 VIRGINIA IS UNDEFEATED WHEN…

• Virginia is 6-0 when leading its opponents in kills and 7-0 when leading in hitting percentage.
• The Cavaliers are 6-0 this season when winning the first set.

 HOT START

• With an overall record of 8-4, Virginia recorded its best start through its first 12 matches of the season since 2015.
• In 2015, the Cavaliers finished with an overall record of 18-13 and went 10-10 in ACC play.

 BLOCK PARTY

• Virginia is currently fifth in the nation and second in the ACC in blocks per set (3.00).
• UVA has led its opponents in blocks in 13 of its first 16 matches of the season and has an 8-5 record when out-blocking its opponents.

 ALANA WALKER, ONE OF THE NATION’S BEST MIDDLE BLOCKERS

• Virginia middle blocker Alana Walker is currently second in the nation and leads the ACC in blocks per set (1.76) and total blocks (102).
• Walker, the daughter of former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker, is also tied for 17th in career blocks – with 435 total blocks – among active Division I players.
• Walker has tied her career high of 11 blocks on two occasions this season, most recently in UVA’s five-set match against Clemson (Oct. 10) … However, Walker notched 11 rejections in the Cavaliers’ four-set win at North Carolina (Sept. 26), which was also the first ACC win of the Shannon Wells era … While playing for Northwestern, Walker set a career-high 11 blocks against Indiana (Nov. 23, 2018).
• Walker, a graduate transfer from Northwestern, is the only player on UVA’s 2021 roster that was signed by Wells.

 (GR)ACE TURNER

• Virginia senior outside hitter Grace Turner is currently second in the ACC in total aces (26) and third in the ACC in aces per set (0.45), which is also good for 46th in the nation.
• Turner tallied a career-best five aces, the most by any UVA player in a single match this season, in the Cavaliers’ sweep over Hofstra (Aug. 28) and five-set win over Akron (Sept. 3).
• As of Oct. 14, Turner is the only player in the ACC this season to record at least two five-ace performances.