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Virginia Earn First ACC Win over Syracuse

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team (8-5, 1-2 ACC) earned its first ACC win of the 2023 season over Syracuse (2-11, 0-3 ACC) at Memorial Gymnasium on Friday night (Sept. 29), with a final score of 3-1 (25-18, 25-16, 14-25, 25-16).

The win marks UVA’s first victory over the Orange since Sept. 13, 2003.

Chloe Wilson (14 kills, .423 hitting percentage) and Veresia Yon (eight kills, five blocks, .571 hitting percentage) led the Cavaliers offensively, while a flurry of blocks from first year Lily Gervase (six blocks) and Abby Tadder (nine blocks) anchored the Virginia defense.

Set 1: Virginia 25, Syracuse 18
The Orange opened up the match firing off three straight points, but the Cavaliers would strike back with a four-nil run of their own. The Hoos pulled away after going on a 6-1 run, extending their lead to 13-9, continuing with short bursts of scoring throughout the rest of the set. Yon registered two kills and two blocks in the opening period.

Set 2: Virginia 25, Syracuse 16
The Cavaliers never trailed in set No. 2 and led by as many as ten points over the Orange. Syracuse came within one point six times in the set, but Virginia would erupt on a 9-2 run to bring the score to 18-10. A small spurt of scoring from the visitors would not be enough as UVA went on to win the set 25-16. Tadder had four kills and four blocks in the second set.

Set 3: Syracuse 25, Virginia 14
Virginia struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the third set, only recording seven kills while also having 16 total errors. The two sides were knotted at 9-9 before Syracuse began to pull away in short scoring bursts, including four straight service aces. 

Set 4: Virginia 25, Syracuse 16
The Hoos were able to find their groove again in the fourth and final frame of the match, outhitting Syracuse .441-.154. After opening set No. 4 with an 8-4 lead, Virginia kept the game out of reach for Syracuse, continuing to build on its lead and sealing the match with a 6-3 run. Wilson registered five kills on eight swings (.625 hitting percentage).

FROM HEAD COACH SHANNON WELLS
“I’m just really proud of this team. We had a tough week trying to figure out how to respond to our matches against Duke and North Carolina. We put in a new lineup and had a couple days to work on that and really challenge the team to get back to our culture. Like I said I’m just really proud of them, Syracuse is a team we haven’t beaten in 20 years and the team feels good about making history.”

MATCH NOTES

  • With the win, the Cavaliers snapped a nine match losing streak against Syracuse and improved to 4-11 in the all-time series. Virginia’s last win over Syracuse was on Sept. 13, 2003 in four sets. 
  • Virginia outhit Syracuse .295-140
  • First year Lily Gervase made her first career start.
  • Setters Ashley Le and Regan Trueblood each finished with 20+ assists, with 20 and 27, respectively. 
  • With Abby Tadder’s 11 kills, she now sits at 505 career kills.  
  • Abby Tadder led all players with nine blocks. 
  • Chloe Wilson’s 14 kills were a season high.

UP NEXT
The Cavaliers return to Mem Gym on Sunday (Oct. 1) to host Boston College (11-6, 0-3 ACC). Sunday’s contest is set to stream on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX).

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