Virginia’s Comeback Effort Falls Short in Five Sets Against Charlotte

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – For the second consecutive day, Virginia (6-3) and Charlotte (6-3) found themselves in a five-set showdown, but this time it was the 49ers who won the decisive fifth game, defeating Virginia (25-15, 25-20, 17-25, 22-25, 15-13) Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gymnasium.

Grace Turner led the Cavaliers with 22 kills on 46 swings, just one kill shy of tying her career high, which she achieved in Friday’s match and UVA newcomer GG Carvacho (12 kills, .476 hit%) had her best outing as a Cavalier.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The 49ers took the opening set, 25-15, after 11 UVA attack errors, including five blocks by Charlotte, halted any chance of momentum for the Hoos. The 49ers hit .381, while Virginia hit -.100 after totaling just eight kills in the opening frame.
• In the second, Charlotte led 22-15, but the Cavaliers did not go away quietly, scoring five straight points to shrink the 49ers’ lead to 22-20. After Turner’s fifth termination of the set, Charlotte posted three straight kills of its own to win set No. 2, 25-20, and take a 2-0 lead heading into the break. Carvacho put down all six balls set her direction in the second and was 3-for-3 in serve-receive.
• Coming out of the intermission, Virginia got into a groove offensively and led by as many as 11 (20-9) thanks to a flurry of scoring runs. Charlotte managed to cut the UVA lead to as little as eight as the Cavaliers went on to win the third, 25-17, and get on the board with its first set win of the match. Turner posted eight kills on 10 swings and added two service aces in game No. 3.
• Virginia led 20-18 before first-year defensive specialist Kate Johnson came off the bench and dialed up back-to-back aces to extend the UVA lead to 22-18. The Cavaliers had set point, 24-21, but Charlotte’s Emani Foster, who finished the match with a team-high 17 kills, terminated a ball to cut UVA’s lead to two, 24-22. UVA head coach Shannon Wells signaled for time and coming out of the huddle, Turner put down her 21^st kill of the match to seal the set win for the Hoos, 25-22, and force a yet another decisive fifth set in as many days between the two teams.
• A 4-0run by the 49ers in the middle of the fifth gave Charlotte a 12-10 advantage and proved to be the difference in the game. After Carvacho’s 12th kill of the contest broke up the 49ers’ run, Johnson was back to serve again for the Cavaliers three plays later. With Johnson behind the service line, the Cavaliers tied the fifth, 13-13, on a Charlotte attack error, but back-to-back 49er points ended the set, 15-13, and match.

NOTES

• For the second straight match, Grace Turner totaled at least 20 kills, finishing Saturday’s match with 22. On Friday, Turner posted a career-high 23 kills.
• Turner is the first Cavalier to record 20-plus kill performances in back-to-back matches since 2016 when Haley Kole posted 23 kills against Wake Forest (Sept. 23, 2016) and 25 kills against Duke (Sept. 24, 2016)
• Virginia totaled 57 assists in the match, led by setters Ashley Le (30 assists) and Gabby Easton (18 assists).
• UVA libero Madison Morey finished with a match-high 14 digs.
• The match was the fourth instance this season that the Cavaliers went to five sets. UVA is 3-1 in such contests this year.
• With the win, the 49ers improved to 3-1 in the all-time series with UVA.
• Charlotte head coach Karen Weatherington earned her 200^th career win.

 UP NEXT
Virginia continues its eight-game homestand next weekend when it hosts East Carolina (Sept. 16), Mercer (Sept. 16) and Maryland (Sept. 17) in Mem Gym.