Cavaliers Drop ACC Opener to No. 3 Stanford On Saturday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In the opening match of ACC play, the Virginia volleyball team (7-4, 0-1 ACC) fell in four sets (15-25, 14-25, 25-22, 17-25) to No. 3 Stanford Cardinal (10-2, 1-0) on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 27) at John Paul Jones Arena.

Freshman Reagan Ennist posted a season-best 11 kills to lead the UVA attack during Saturday’s matinee. Kate Dean added seven more kills of her own and tied for a match-high with seven blocks. Zoey Dodd also tallied seven blocks for a new career high.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

Set 1: Stanford 25, Virginia 15

The visiting Cardinal sprinted out to a 9-3 lead in the opening set of Sunday’s contest. Virginia cut the lead down to 9-5 with back-to-back points. Following the quick UVA spurt, Stanford tallied seven of the next eight points to extend its lead to 16-6. The Cardinal ended a late Cavalier surge with an Erika Sayer kill to claim the set.

Set 2: Stanford 25, Virginia 14

Just like in the first set, Stanford started fast out of the gate and built a 12-4 lead. In the latter stages of the set, Virginia strung together a 3-0 run that was aided by back-to-back kills from Dean and Ennist. The Cardinal answered by tallying six of the final seven points to push UVA to the brink.

Set 3: Virginia 25, Stanford 23

Virginia proved resilient in the third set and jumped out to a lead at 10-6. Stanford cut the Cavalier advantage down to 12-10 before UVA answered with a 4-0 run that forced a Cardinal timeout. Late in the set, the visitors pulled to within a pair of points at 24-22 before Layrn Bowie forced a fourth set with an emphatic kill.

Set 4: Stanford 25, Virginia 17

The fourth and final set of the match proved to be the most competitive, with nine ties and six total lead changes. Stanford and Virginia jousted to a 13-13 tie before the Cardinal took control of the game with a 10-1 run. A late Teagan Hogan service ace made it a 23-16 contest prior to Stanford scoring two of the final three points of the day.

 MATCH NOTES

• Virginia is 1-4 in ACC openers under Shannon Wells.
• Stanford now leads the all-time series 3-0 over UVA.
• Saturday’s loss was the first loss for the Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena.
• UVA’s third set win was the first-ever set win over Stanford and tied for the highest set win over a ranked opponent in program history.

FROM HEAD COACH SHANNON WELLS

“We started off the week with an injury on Saturday and then another one later. Our bench is getting a little bit larger than our group that can actually go. So, we put in a new lineup yesterday to try to save some bodies and put our healthiest group out there and practiced that for about an hour. We did some serve and pass today for about 15-20 minutes and then we just focused on getting to play UVA Volleyball. It’s been a work in progress we’ve been working on for the last two weeks. We’ve focused on gym culture, investing in each other, and allowing each other to play vulnerable and take big swings.”

“And most importantly, just taking it play by play. We talked about it in the locker room today. It was very inspiring to watch football yesterday and hear Chandler Morris talk a lot about “it’s just another game.” This facility is big time for us, and we’re playing the number three team in the country, so it gives you a little bit of extra butterflies in the belly. We wanted to just play it like any other game. But most importantly, what we took from him is they won that game yesterday because they took it play by play.”

UP NEXT

Virginia will close out the opening weekend of ACC play on Sunday (Sept. 28) against Cal at John Paul Jones Arena. First serve is set for 1:30 p.m. and can be watched on the ACC Network.