Hurricanes Continue ACC Action at Virginia
Oct. 7, 2004
Coral Gables, Fla. –
The University of Miami women’s volleyball team heads to Charlottesville, Va. to face the University of Virginia on Friday in the first match of a two-match road swing. Game time is set for 7:00 pm at UVa’s Memorial Gym.
The Hurricanes come off a tough five-game home loss to ACC foe Duke on October 3rd where they fell to 6-5 on the season and an even 2-2 in the ACC.
“We’re going to have to play well against Virginia,” said head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch. “Defensively our blocks and our backcourt play is going to be critical. Our serving and passing are also going to be key for us so that we can run all of our options.”
Miami is led by senior rightside hitter Valeria Tipiana who leads the team in kills (205/4.88kpg), attack percentage (.329) and service aces (34/0.81apg). Junior outside hitter Karla Johnson is second in kills with a 3.62 kills per game average. Sophomore Jill Robinson has a team-high 550 assists (13.10apg) on the season.
Defensively, senior Jamie Grass leads with 169 digs (4.02dpg) this season, while redshirt freshman Ciara Michel has posted a team-high 62.0 total blocks (10 BS, 52 BA).
In the ACC, the Hurricanes are ranked second in assists (630/16.62apg), fourth in hitting percentage (.241) and third in blocks (120.0/2.86bpg), kills (665/15.83kpg) and service aces (80/1.90apg). Miami is tied for 27th in the nation in assists per game while Tipiana is 4th in services aces per game and Robinson is 22nd in assists per game.
Virginia enters Friday night’s contest as owners of a 12-4 overall record. The Cavaliers have not played at home since Sept. 14th but hold a 6-0 record in Memorial Gym. Most recently they defeated NC State, 3-1, to give them a 2-2 ACC record.
Leading the way for the Cavaliers are freshmen Sarah Kirkwood and Melissa Caldwell along with sophomore Emily Kirkwood and senior Alexis Geocaris. Kirkwood, is 11th among all Division I players in kills with 5.36 per game, while Caldwell ranks 18th in digs with a 5.52 per game average. Emily Kirkwood is 27th with 12.90 assists per game. Kirkwood is also hitting a team-best .292 and has recorded 24 service aces. Geocaris leads UVa in blocks with 70 (1.25 per game) and is third with 176 kills.
As a team, Virginia ranks second in the ACC in digs per game (1005/17.33pg) while they sit at third in assists per game (845/14.57).
