Cavaliers Down West Virginia in Friday Matinee at Liberty Tournament

LYNCHBURG, Va. – After dropping the first set in extra points, Virginia (7-1) came roaring back to knock off West Virginia (3-4), 29-31, 25-16, 25-21, 25-19, in the first of its two Friday matches at the Liberty Tournament. Virginia is off to its first 7-1 start since 2004.

UVA was led by right-side hitter Lauryn Bowie (14 kills, .265 Hit%, 4 blocks), who made her first start of the season, and Abby Tadder (11 kills, .296 Hit%, 7 blocks). Three of Tadder’s seven total blocks were solos and matched her career best. Cavalier libero Milan Gomillion and setter Ashley Le recorded season highs in digs (23) and assists (46), respectively. Le also added 15 digs and defensive specialist Kate Johnson supplemented 13.

With the help of Gomillion, Le and Johnson, the Cavaliers notched 78 total digs in the win, the most in a four-set match since last year’s contest against UMBC on Sept. 10, 2023.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Set 1: West Virginia 31, Virginia 29
The Mountaineers leaped out to a 21-15 lead midway through the opening set, but UVA clawed its way back to tie things, 24-24, after WVU had set point on three instances. After that, the two teams were tied five more times before the Mountaineers eventually claimed their only set win of the match. The Hoos had chance to win game No. 1 after securing set point [27-26], but a UVA attack error tied the score once again. Bowie led all UVA hitters with six kills on 12 swings and Elayna Duprey had five terminations. Tadder tallied five blocks, including all three of her solos, in the opening set.

Set 2: Virginia 25, West Virginia 16
After making some tweaks to its rotation, including checking in Kadynce Boothe off the bench and leaving Le on the floor for six rotations, the Cavaliers scored the first six points of the second and did not look back. UVA ultimately led by as many as 10 points [23-13] amid a 4-0 scoring run. Boothe, who had three aces in yesterday’s win, Gomillion and Le registered one ace each in game No. 2. For the second straight set, Le registered six digs to help hold the Mountaineers to just 11 kills in the frame.

Set 3: Virginia 25, West Virginia 21
After the intermission, both teams found themselves tied 17-17, but UVA outscored the Mountaineers 8-4 the rest of the way to take set No. 3 and a 2-1 lead. Brooklyn Borum (10 kills, 9 digs) and Tadder tallied five kills each. Tadder’s fifth termination sealed the set.

Set 4: Virginia 25, West Virginia 19
Both teams were neck-and-neck to begin the fourth, but UVA stretch a two-point lead to five [18-13] after scoring three straight. The Cavaliers sealed the win by scoring the final three points of the match on three consecutive WVU attack errors, two of which were rejected at the net by the Hoos. Gomillion registered nine digs in the fourth and the UVA offense produced 15 kills, led by Tadder with four.

WITH THE WIN…

• UVA is off to a 7-1 start for the first time since 2004.
• It’s also only the sixth time in school history UVA has started 7-1 … other years were 2004, 2003, 1999, 1998 and 1996.
• Virginia improved to 4-5 in its all-time series with West Virginia, which began in 1983.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• In her first start of the season, Lauryn Bowie posted a team-high 14 kills and hit .265 along with four blocks.
• Setter Ashley Le dished out a season-high 46 assists and tallied 15 digs.
• Milan Gomillion finished with a match-high 23 digs, the most by a Cavalier in a single match this season.
• As a team, UVA finished with 78 digs, which are a season high and the most in a four-set match since the Cavaliers faced UMBC last season on Sept. 10, 2023.
• Abby Tadder tied her career high of three block solos.

ON THE HORIZON
UVA resumes action at Liberty’s tournament on Friday (Sept. 13) when they face the Lady Flames (3-3) at 7 p.m.