After falling behind two sets to none on October 10th at Memorial Gymnasium, it looked like it would be a quick match for UVA women’s volleyball (8-8, 1-5 ACC). The Hoos battled back to make it close but ultimately fell to Clemson (11-6, 3-3 ACC) in the fifth set.
Clemson won the first set 25-22 despite a late five-point run from the Hoos that included a few Tiger attacking errors and a kill and block from UVA’s Abby Tadder. Clemson’s set two lead was always comfortable, and the team won 25-19.
After that, UVA rallied to take the next two sets. The Hoos held Clemson to 0.028 hitting percentage in set three and 0 in set four and registered 18 blocks overall, so even though UVA only hit 0.101 overall, it was still a close match. Clemson’s defense was impressive as well, with 89 total digs.
After taking set three 25-22, set four had even more drama. It went into extra points as the teams traded kills and attack errors, but the Hoos ended up winning 28-26. Mary Shaffer was clutch at the end of the fourth set with two kills.
Set five was a thriller and the Hoos fought hard, but three consecutive attack errors late gave Clemson a lead, and then Crystal Childs registered the final kill of the match.
Mary Schaffer led the way for the Hoos with 14 kills, followed by Abby Tadder and Jayna Francis with nine and eight, respectively. Alana Walker earned 11 blocks, once again declaring her presence at the net. Setters Ashley Le and Maddie Boylston registered 25 and 18 assists, and libero Kristen Leland had 24 digs.
For the Tigers, Kaylee Martin had 17 kills and Camryn Hannah had 16, and setter McKenna Slavik had an astonishing 48 assists in the contest.
The Hoos will travel to Tallahassee to take on the Florida State Seminoles on October 15th.
