Volleyball: Third-ranked Cardinals outlast Hoos in four sets

By Colin Moore
JerryRatcliffe.com correspondent

Virginia fought a tough fight against third-ranked Louisville on Friday night with a great crowd in attendance at Memorial Gymnasium, but the Cavaliers fell 3 sets to 1.

The Cardinals’ offensive firepower was extremely strong and forced the Hoos into many tough situations. UVA had spurts of great plays throughout the match and didn’t back down against a tough opponent, but overall didn’t have enough to pull off the upset.

The Cavaliers (20-8, 10-7 ACC) offensively finished with 40 kills and were led by Kate Dean and Abby Tadder with 8 kills each, and Elayna Duprey with 7. Ashley Le and Zoey Dood each tallied double-digit assists, equalling 31 combined for both setters.

On the defensive end, the Hoos made 50 digs and 7 blocks. Milan Gomillion made 16 digs and Brooklyn Borum made 9. At the net, Tadder and Borum each had 4 blocks while Dean had 3 of her own against the high-powered Cardinals offense.

Set 1: Louisville 25, UVA 10
The Cavaliers battled in the opening set by trading points in the beginning of the match. Dean started off the scoring with a strong kill for the opening point of the match. Tadder and Borum also made some contributions in this set to get points for the Hoos.

Virginia couldn’t quite combat the attacking power from the Cardinals (24-3, 16-1), but Gomillion and the rest of the defense did everything they could, making numerous digs and forcing long rallies. The Hoos also didn’t help their cause, as they made multiple careless errors allowing for easy Louisville points.

Set 2: Louisville 25, UVA 14
Again, the Hoos were able to battle head to head for the early points of the set before eventually falling behind. The Cavaliers were able to stick close to the Cardinals with a score of 9-6 from great kills from Tadder and Borum. Louisville then went on a run and doubled up the Hoos before eventually taking the second set by 11 points.

Set 3: UVA 25, Louisville 23
The Cavaliers started off extremely strong in the third. They created numerous great plays, allowing them to gain a little bit of momentum going up early and managed to maintain that throughout the set.

Becca Wight came on for her first bit of action in the third set and made a noticeable contribution. She had four kills all at crucial moments in the set.

The Cavaliers went up by 5 early on when the score was 9-4. Duprey made a few great plays in the third set, but had a memorable kill, hitting the ball off the Cardinals blockers and forcing the ball to ricochet across the court and into the stands. Lousiville managed to make a comeback towards the end of the set, fending off 3 set points before they were able to force a fourth set.

Set 4: Louisville 25 , UVA 16
The Hoos started this set extremely slow, with multiple penalties allowing the Cardinals to take a commanding 7-1 lead early on. The Hoos managed to overcome some adversity and make the set close again at 11-8. Unfortunately for UVA, the Cardinals hitters and blockers were quite unstoppable, showing why they are ranked No. 3 nationally.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will face Notre Dame for Senior Day on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Mem Gym.