WISE – The UVA Wise volleyball team lost in three sets to Tusculum Friday night, 25-17, 25-18 and 25-19.
The Cavs, still riddled with injuries, had an off night both offensively and defensively.
After falling behind 7-0 to open the match, head coach Alyssa Hanley called a timeout to talk the bad start over with her team. The two teams would trade points the rest of the way, but UVA Wise was never able to find the necessary rally to get back in the set and ultimately lost 25-17.
UVA Wise, who leads the SAC in blocks per set as a team (2.4), was unable to stop the Tusculum hitters at all in the first set. The Cavs had zero blocks in the opening frame, while Tusculum had three, and junior middle blocker Olivia Crowl was involved in each one for three block assists.
The offense never clicked in the first set, either. The Cavs finished with eight kills and eight errors on 36 attempts for an .000 hitting percentage.
The second set started off on a better foot for the Cavs, but they still were unable to overtake the Pioneers. Tusculum's outside hitter combination of senior Aly Freeland and graduate student Emiah Burrowes was too much for UVA Wise to handle all night.
Freeland and Burrowes were the kryptonite for the Cavs when the two teams met to open conference play earlier in the season back on Sep. 5. In Greeneville, Tenn., the Tusculum outside hitters combined for 28 kills in a four-set win in which UVA Wise was competitive but eventually lost.
Friday night saw a similar story to the first matchup. Burrowes and Freeland took turns pounding hard swings against the Cavalier defense. They combined for 23 kills on the night with Freeland leading the way with 12. Burrowes was impressively efficient hitting .267 percent in the win.
The final set saw Tusculum jump out to another early lead. In fact, UVA Wise never led the entire match. Tusculum outlasted a late comeback effort by UVA Wise to take the third set 25-19.
During the late rally, junior outside hitter Kaylee Scarce made a run at a milestone for UVA Wise. Entering the match she needed 11 kills to reach 500 kills for her career. With 613 digs she would join the 500-600 club. With the match winding down, Scarce was able to string a few swings together but ultimately fell one kill shy of 500, finishing the night with 10 kills.
She'll look to reach the impressive milestone in UVA Wise's next match against Mars Hill.
The Pioneers improve their season record to 15-6 (11-3 SAC), while UVA Wise falls to 9-11 (2-10 SAC). The Cavs have a quick turnaround to face Mars Hill on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. on the road in Mars Hill, N.C.
