Cavaliers Fall In Second Round Of NIVC To St. John’s

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team (21-11) ended its season with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-27, 25-23, 20-25) loss against St. John’s (23-12) on Sunday (Dec. 8) in a National Invitational Volleyball Championship second-round match at Memorial Gymnasium.

Virginia was paced on Sunday by Becca Wight as the freshman tallied a team-best 11 kills in the contest. Defensively, the Cavalier duo of Abby Tadder and Kate Dean tied with St. John’s Ludovica Zola for the match-high in blocks with six.

St. John’s Giorgia Walther led all players with 21 kills on the night while the Red Storm’s Rashanny Solano Smith had a match-high 23 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED   

Set 1: St. John’s 25, Virginia 21

In the opening set of Sunday’s match, the Red Storm built an early 4-1 and held the advantage through the middle of the set. A 3-0 Cavalier run in the heart of the set brought Virginia back to within a point at 15-14. An Elayna Duprey kill tied the set at 19-19 before St. John’s tallied six of the final eight points to take the set.

Set 2: St. John’s 27, Virginia 25

The second set of the night saw seven ties as the two squads settled into a back-and-forth affair. Wight powered a 4-0 Cavalier run in the middle of the set as Virginia took a 16-11 lead. St. John’s battled back to tie the game at 22-22 and to force a UVA timeout. Out of the timeout, back-to-back kills from Wight pushed the Cavaliers to set point before St. John’s completed the comeback with three straight points to end the set.

Set 3: Virginia 25, St. John’s 23

St. John’s sprinted out to a 7-2 advantage in the third set before a Tadder ace at 11-8 shifted the momentum in favor of the Cavaliers. A 3-0 run in the middle of the set gave Virginia its first lead and forced a St. John’s timeout. The Red Storm’s 6-2 run out of the timeout put St. John’s back out front at 20-17. Virginia rallied once again to tie the set at 21-21 with a Zoey Dood ace before a Brooklyn Borum kill sealed the set for Virginia.

Set 4: St. John’s 25, Virginia 20

The tug-of-war continued deep into the fourth and final set of the night as the two teams battled to another seven ties and four lead changes. St. John’s took control of the set with a 6-0 run after a 16-16 tie. Virginia countered with a 3-0 run of its own to make it a 22-20 contest before the Red Storm nabbed the final three points of the night to take the set and the match.

From Head Coach Shannon Wells:

“Kudos to St. John’s. We had a chance to watch them yesterday and they are a scrappy team with some good arms. I thought they came out and asserted themselves from the beginning. I told our team downstairs, that one match doesn’t make our season or break our season. This has been unbelievable for our program. We are extremely grateful for our seniors for putting us in this position where UVA volleyball is playing in December and we have learned a lot. The good news is that our program is not going anywhere. We are definitely not going backward and we will learn a lot from this match and take it into next season.”

GAME NOTES

• UVA finishes the season with 21 wins, the most since 2006.
• With the win, the Red Storm improved to 1-0 all-time against Virginia.
• The Cavaliers drop to 0-3 all-time in postseason play.
• Becca Wight tied her season-high with 11 kills on Sunday.
• Zoey Dood tied her season-high with a pair of service aces.