WISE -- The Cavalier volleyball team battled hard but ultimately fell in four sets to SAC leader Anderson Friday night.
UVA Wise opened the match firing on all cylinders. Against an Anderson team that was ranked second in the SAC in both kills per set and hitting percentage, the Cavs hung close in the first set with some lights out defense.
Senior middle hitter Cassidy Farley, who leads the conference in blocks per set at 1.4, stuffed Anderson hitters five times in the opening frame. UVA Wise would have six blocks as a team in the first set alone.
Despite the good defense, the Cavs were still unable to find a way to take the lead from the Trojans. After back-to-back Anderson points put them up 19-16 late in the set, head coach Alyssa Hanley called timeout.
Whatever she said in the break worked, because UVA Wise exploded out of the timeout on a 6-0 run to take the lead 23-19. Back-to-back points kept Anderson in it at 23-21, but a kill from sophomore outsider hitter Morgan Blankenship and an attack error from Anderson helped the Cavs win the first set.
Anderson entered the season hitting .242 pct in 16 matches. In the first set, UVA Wise held the Trojans to a dismal .067 hitting pct.
The second set was a different story. Anderson saw significant offensive improvement in the second set.
Senior outside hitters Jaelyn Grimm and Sadie Kluner combined for a powerful 10 kills in the second set alone. Both hitters would finish with double-digit kills as Kluner had a match-high 17 while Grimm contributed 11 kills of her own.
Trailing 17-12, it looked like Anderson would run away with the second set and tie the match. Then UVA Wise caught its comeback fire again. A pair of kills from the Cavs and back-to-back errors from Anderson made it just a one-point Trojan lead.
Then Kluner was dominant in the final five points for her team as she scorched three kills past the Cavalier defense to give Anderson the set.
The third set remained as hotly contested as the first two for a few moments. At 15-13, the Cavs were looking to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Instead, Anderson rattled off nine points in a row to hold set point at 24-13. The Trojans would win the third set, 25-15.
The 9-0 Anderson rally to seal the third set seemed to gas the Cavaliers in the fourth and final set.
UVA Wise held a slim, early lead 2-1, but a kill from senior outside hitter Tabitha Wheeler earned the side out for Anderson and handed the ball to graduate libero Lindsay McCurley. That would prove fateful as McCurley rattled off a shocking five service aces en route to a 7-0 Anderson run.
McCurley shocked everyone with five of her six aces in the match coming in one run. She previously only had seven total aces on the entire season before the rally.
The two teams would essentially trade points the rest of the way and thus having built up a lead already, Anderson took the final set 25-16.
The Trojans entered the match and will remain in first place in the SAC standings. With the win, Anderson moves to 14-3 (7-1 SAC) this year with their only conference loss coming against Lenoir-Rhyne on Sep. 16.
UVA Wise falls to 8-7 (2-6 SAC) and will look to move up in the standings with a road win over Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.
