UM Falls At Home Despite Out-Hitting Virginia
Oct. 26, 2007
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Four players finished with double-digit kills led by Genny Mayhew’s 17 and the Hurricanes out-hit Virginia, .202-to-.170 but it was not enough at the University of Miami fell to Virginia, 3-1, in Atlantic Coast Conference play at the Knight Sports Complex Friday night.
Miami (9-13, 3-10 ACC), after falling behind in the match 2-0, battled back with a 30-24 win in game three but a hard-fought fourth game ended with Virginia (14-8, 9-4) coming out on top, 30-28. The Cavaliers, despite hitting at a lower percentage than UM, used a 12-5 advantage in service aces and also took advantage of UM’s 12 service errors to pick up the win.
“I thought we put forth a strong effort and I thought it was a high-level volleyball match,” head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “We made a good change at the break and came back serving tougher and passing better which allowed us to be more effective offensively. We just have to get tougher at the end and have one of those big plays go our way.”
In addition to Mayhew’s 17 kills, Ciara Michel finished with 14 while Bridget Bomhack and Angelica Ellis each recorded 10. Katie Gallagher reached the 50-assist mark for the sixth time this season and the second time in the last four matches in tallying exactly 50. She also picked up two kills, one ace, eight digs and three total blocks on the night.
“Katie really played another well, all-around match for us tonight,” Lantagne Welch said. “She did a great job of leading the offense and setting up our four players that finished with double-figure kills. I also thought Maria Andersson played well coming off the bench for us.”
Andersson collected five kills and recorded just one error offensively while contributing on the defensive side of the ball with three block assists. Michel led the team with five total blocks while Cassie Loessberg reached the 20-dig plateau for the third time in the last four matches, finished with 27.
Sarah Kirkwood’s 13 kills also led four Cavaliers in double-figure kills. Setter Kelly Irvin also reached the 50-assist mark, tallying 52 while 17 digs from Melissa Caldwell and seven total blocks from Shannon Davis led UVa in those respective categories.
Miami kept a slight lead throughout most of the first game before moving ahead 19-14 to force a UVa timeout. The Cavaliers picked up momentum from that point on though, winning 16 of the final 21 points to win 30-24. Mayhew finished with a game-high five kills for UM while Oakes and Voelker each had four.
UVa got out to an early 10-5 lead before going up 15-9 midway through the second game. The Cavaliers increased their lead to 10 at 24-14 before taking a 2-0 lead in the match with a 30-21 game two win. Mayhew added six more kills in game two but five Cavalier service aces and a combined 10 kills from Oakes, Kirkwood and Voekler were too much for the `Canes to overcome.
The Hurricanes started strong in game three, going up 8-4 before increasing their lead to 19-9, forcing a Virginia timeout. UM then went up 21-11 and after a brief 5-1 UVa run, the `Canes regained control to pull away for the 30-24 win. Michel and Mayhew each had four kills in the game while Loessberg also played well, collecting three aces and nine digs.
The two teams remained close the majority of the fourth game, tying at 10-10, 15-15 and 20-20 before Virginia stepped ahead with leads of 24-22, 26-23 and 28-25. When the Cavaliers reached match-point at 29-25, UM’s late three-point rally cut the lead to one but a Beth Shelton kill ended the match.
The `Canes will have a short turn-around before hosting Virginia Tech Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Knight Sports Complex.
