The UVA volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-19, 25-7, 25-23) to UConn on Saturday morning in the LSU Tiger Classic at the Pete Maravich Center. The Cavaliers finished the tournament 1-2 overall.
“This team is going to have to figure out that they will have to play all the time and it all sorts of situations,” head coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “We are going to have to learn. They didn’t learn from yesterday so I hope after my discussion with them today they will. We will come back tomorrow afternoon and get to work to try to be better. That is not what Virginia volleyball is supposed to be.”
UConn (4-1) finished with 44 kills on a .374 hitting percentage to 19 kills on .034 hitting for UVA (3-3). The Huskies also had the advantage in service aces (7-4), digs (42-29) and blocks (6-5).
Seniors Haley Kole (Tallahassee, Fla.) and Jasmine Burton (West Hills, Calif.) led UVA with five kills each and freshman Kiley Banker (West Lafayette, Ind.) added four kills. Defensively, junior Krystal Ejesieme (Garland, Texas) led with three blocks, while three players finished with two each. Freshman Jennifer Wineholt (San Diego, Calif.) led with nine digs.
Virginia fell behind 7-1 in the opening set. The Cavaliers stayed with the Huskies and cut the lead to one four times, before eventually tying the set at 12-12 on a kill by Banker. UConn extended its advantage out to 19-15 and remained in control to take the first set 25-19.
Another tough start in the second set put UVA down 7-0 to the Huskies. UVA got on the board on a kill by redshirt junior Alex Thorson (Spring, Texas) but could not get anything going offensively as UConn kept the pressure on and went ahead 11-1. A 6-2 run cut UConn’s lead to 14-6, but the Huskies used another run to close out the set with a 25-7 win and take a 2-0 lead into the break.
The third set opened with several long rallies that fell UConn’s way as Virginia trailed 6-1. Trailing 21-11, Virginia found its rhythm with a 12-3 run to cut the lead to 24-23, but it wasn’t enough as UConn held on to win the set 25-23 and take the match.
Virginia will remain on the road as it travels to Lexington, Ky. for the Kentucky Bluegrass Battle against St. Louis, Kentucky and Marquette Sept. 9-10.
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