Virginia Volleyball Falls 3-1 To Both Miami and Florida State

After a dramatic 3-2 comeback victory over rival Virginia Tech at John Paul Jones Arena in front of a record-breaking crowd, Virginia volleyball went on the road to face Miami and Florida State. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers couldn’t continue their momentum and fell to 2-12 in the conference.

Friday 11/3 - Miami 3, Virginia 1

Miami hit .362 in the match which is a difficult efficiency to stop, and the first two sets were especially dominant to establish a 2-0 lead. The Hoos struggled in set one with only six kills and seven errors, but improved on hitting percentage to wind up hitting .258 overall.

Miami secured an 11-4 lead early in set one, and extended that to 18-7 after a 5-0 run. Virginia managed to score a few points, but the Hurricanes ran away with set one 25-12.

The second set was much closer thanks to five kills on six swings from both Ciera Hecht and Veresia Yon. Ciera Hecht got going early with four kills in the first six Cavalier points. Virginia tied the score at 12 before Miami put together a few two-point bursts to build a lead. A 3-0 run to go from 19-18 to 22-18 was particularly damaging. Veresia Yon had three kills in four points to try and bring her team back, but a Hurricanes first ball kill ended set two at 25-22.

Yon and Hecht kept their hot hitting alive in set three, with Veresia Yon hitting 1.000 with six kills and Hecht adding four more. The Hoos led 12-8 and Hecht and Yon worked hard to fight off Miami’s comeback attempts, twice collaborating for back-to-back kills. Two straight blocks made the score 22-17, and then Ashley Le earned the win with a service ace a few points later, 25-19.

The fourth set was a heartbreaker for the Cavaliers, as the team held a large lead early on, but allowed Miami to storm back and win the set. An 8-0 run gave Virginia a 13-4 lead, and it looked possible that Virginia could force a fifth set for the second-straight match. However, Miami had other ideas. The Hurricanes put together a 4-0 run, a 3-0 run, and another 4-0 run to take a 22-20 lead. Unfortunately, many points in that run were the result of Cavalier errors. Ciera Hecht had two kills to try and help her team hold on, and then Veresia Yon had one kill to fend off Miami’s first match point. The next point ended in a block, securing Miami’s comeback set win and overall match victory.

Veresia Yon had 14 kills and seven blocks with a .571 hitting percentage. Ciera Hecht had 13 kills and hit .478, and Abby Tadder had ten kills and hit .421.

Sunday 11/5 - Florida State 3, Virginia 1

On Sunday afternoon, the Cavaliers were unable to remain consistent against Florida State, playing one close set followed by three lopsided ones. Eight different Cavaliers registered a kill in set one, with Abby Tadder and Ciera Hecht leading with five and four kills apiece. Milan Gomillion had nine digs in the first set alone, as it was a thriller. Virginia led early on, and after Florida State tied the score at 13, Virginia put together a 5-1 run to take an 18-14 lead. The Hoos maintained the lead and were up 22-19 before three kills and a block for Florida State tied the score at 23. Virginia had three service errors in the final stretch of the set, something that came back to haunt them. While a block from Chloe Wilson and Veresia Yon and then a Florida State service error stopped the first two Seminole set points, the third time was the charm after a Cavalier attack error.

The second set was much more lopsided, as Florida State hit .400 and had six blocks. The score was close at first, with the Seminoles leading by two or three points at most. Then, Florida State put together an 8-0 run to clinch the set, with two aces and four kills making up the majority of the run.

Virginia had a surge in set three and won 25-12 thanks to clean offense led by Veresia Yon’s five and solid defense thanks to Milan Gomillion’s eight digs. The Hoos jumped out to a 6-0 lead and later extended it to 13-5. A 5-0 run with several Seminole errors but also great execution from Virginia made it 24-10, and from there the Cavaliers cruised to victory.

Despite the dominant set beforehand, the Cavaliers were unable to continue that momentum. Florida State made adjustments that Virginia could not keep up with, so the Seminoles hit .542 and the Cavaliers hit -0.034. The defeating blow in set four was a 12-2 run to conclude the match, mostly made up by Virginia errors and then three aces from a Florida State player.

Abby Tadder had 14 kills, Ciera Hecht had 11, and Veresia Yon had ten, but the hitting percentages that sometimes are sky-high for the middle hitters were much less jaw dropping in this match. Milan Gomillion had 25 digs and Ashley Le had 27 assists as other highlights.

Virginia (9-15, 2-12 ACC) returns home to host Notre Dame next Sunday and then Duke and NC State the week after that, looking to get back in the win column at Mem Gym. 

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