CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Virginia fell to Miami in four sets in John Paul Jones Arena on Friday, winning a crucial third set before dropping the finale 26-24.
The Cavaliers (6-14, 2-9 ACC) were led by Reese Wuebker with 17 kills while Emily Fowler added nine on just 12 attempts. The Hurricanes (10-10, 8-3 ACC) had three players in double figures. Asia Harvey led all players with 20 kills, Ruth Martinez racked up 15 and Sonja Danilovic added ten.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1: Miami 25 (1), Virginia 14 (0)
Miami led from start to finish in the opening set after picking up six of the first seven points. Virginia cut a 19-9 Miami lead to 19-11 with a kill and a block from Reese Wuebker, but the Hurricanes finished with six of the final nine points.
Set 2: Miami 25 (2), Virginia 20 (0)
Miami led by as much as ten at 14-4 and kept that cushion at 20-10 before a late run from the Hoos made things interesting. Virginia grabbed six of the next eight points as Wuebker added two more kills to make it 22-16 before a 4-2 run from the Hoos made it 24-20. Miami ended the Virginia rally with a Danilovic kill to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set 3: Virginia 25 (1), Miami 15 (2)
Virginia avoided the sweep with a dominant showing in the third set, jolting out to an early 10-6 lead. Miami trimmed it to one at 10-9 but a pair of 4-0 runs by the Hoos helped them build a 21-12 lead before claiming four of the final seven points.
Set 4: Miami 26 (3),Virginia 24 (1)
A battle of a fourth set saw Virginia lead early at 7-4, which was the largest lead by either team for the remainder of the set. After Miami evened it at 8-8, neither team led by more than two the rest of the way as the set went down to the wire with a tie at 23-23. A Martinez kill put Miami ahead, but Virginia evened it on a block by Wuebker and Caroline Lang. Miami responded with the next points on kills by Harvey and Arian Rodriguez to end the match.
MATCH NOTES
- Third-year outside hitter Reese Wuebker led Virginia with 17 kills. It was her sixth match this season reaching that mark. Wuebker hit .349 for the match, her best mark in ACC play this season.
- Fourth-year middle Emily Fowler totaled nine kills on 12 attempts without an error. Her .750 hitting percentage was the best mark of her career (min. 10 attempts).
- Zoey Dood’s 16 assists matched her season high. She did so despite not appearing in the first set.
QUOTABLE
“I liked the way we competed all night. That’s the reality. The first couple sets we weren’t playing very good volleyball, so we needed to clean some of those things up and go back to our scouting report. Kudos to our setters for embracing that and taking some chances. It was a little bit different of a gameplan than what we’ve had in the past, and so I think they did a phenomenal job with that. It started to pay off in the second set at the end, and then you really started to see it in the third and fourth sets. More than anything, I loved the fight that we had.” - head coach Shannon Wells.
NEXT UP
Virginia hosts Florida State in Memorial Gymnasium on Sunday. First serve is set for 1 p.m. and the match will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.