WISE – October 23 was "Taking Care of Business Day" on the UVA Wise campus. It's a day with no classes so students can "take care" of projects, papers, lab work, etc. that need to be done. The Highland Cavalier volleyball team took advantage of the day to take care of business with the historic 3-2 South Atlantic Conference victory over Tusculum on the Quillen Court.
The win was a huge one for the team as it helps improve their chances for a berth in the upcoming SAC Volleyball Tournament. It is the 10
th win of the season for the Cavs, which marks the team's best record under Coach
Alyssa Hanley and is also their best record since their 10 wins in 2016.
It is also their first win over the Pioneers since a 3-2 win, also in Wise in Greear Gym, on September 30, 1997, a span of 9,886 days, or 27 years and 24 days. Technically, it is the first win by UVA Wise over Tusculum as back then the institution was still called Clinch Valley College. It also breaks a 14-match winning streak by Tusculum.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Result: UVA Wise 3, Tusculum 0
Records: UVA Wise (10-10, 4-7 SAC); Tusculum (8-12, 6-6 SAC)
Location: The Quillen Court in the David J. Prior Convocation Center
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The first set was a harbinger of things to come with eleven ties and five lead changes in that set alone. The Cavs took a quick 3-0 lead, but the Pioneers came back and later tied the set at 10-10. The teams traded points the rest of the set until the Pioneers tied the score at 19-19 with the Martina Foster kill and then closed the set out with a 6-1 run.
- Tusculum opened set two with a 5-1 start before a kill by
Riley Brandon sparked a comeback that tied the match at 10-10 with a kill by
Serina Petersen. Once again, the teams traded the lead with neither leading by more than two points until a block by Brandon and
Braelynn Williams broke the 15-15 tie and led to a 10-3 run by the Cavs where they grabbed the 25-18 set victory.
- The Pioneers grabbed the lead to start the third set and eventually extended it to nine points on two occasions. With the lead at 18-9, another kill by Brandon sparked one of the greatest, if not the greatest, set comeback in Cavalier history as they rallied for a 10-1 run to tie the set at 19-19. TU then took the lead out to 23-21 only to see the Cavs again tie it at 23-23. A kill by Foster gave the Pioneers set point, but a TU attack error tied it back up at 24-24. An ace by
Kamryn Livingston and a kill by
Cassidy Farley were answered by the Pioneers to make the score 26-26. At that point, the Pioneers had a pair of errors and UVA Wise survived to claim the 28-26 set win and the 2-1 lead in the match.
- Tusculum came out strongly in the fourth set, rolling out to a 12-8 lead. The Cavs begin to chip away at that lead and tied the set at 14-14 with a block by Farley. This time it was UVA Wise's turn to go on a late run as they used a run to grab the 20-16 lead. Foster once again sparked a TU run as they scored five unanswered points to take the 21-20 lead. They then held off the Cavs and won the fourth set, 25-21 and take the match to a fifth set.
- Only one other time in the 34 meetings between the two has a match gone to five sets. That match? The last win by the Cavs on Sept. 30, 1997. The Pioneers, however, were not going away quietly as they took a 2-0 lead and held it until kills from Farley and
Kaylee Scarce tied the set at 7-7. Like the previous sets, the teams slugged it out over the next several points before Tusculum called timeout after UVA Wise's
Morgan Blevins tied the set at 13-13 with a kill. Coming out of the timeout, a McKayla Willey kill gave the Pioneers the 14-13 match point with the Cavs being out of timeouts. Lilly Gutierrez then set the ball for Farley, who made one of the biggest kills of her career and tied the set back up. Farley then followed up with probably the biggest block of her career as she blocked the kill attempt by Morgan Adkins, giving the Highland Cavaliers the set point.
Piper Suddeth then served the ball to Tusculum's Sofia De Los Mozos, who gave it to Adkins for the set to Willey for the attack attempt. Blevins dug the ball and passed it to Suddeth, who then made the 994
th assist of her career to Brandon, who then took care of business with a hard hit kill that ended the match.
GETTING WISE
- Brandon led UVA Wise with a career-high 17 kills in addition to four blocks. Scarce chipped in 16 kills and had 18 digs. Blevins added 11 kills and six digs.
- Suddeth had 25 assists and finished the match with 994 for her career. She also had 17 digs, which were second on the team behind
Abigail Curtis' career high 32 digs.
- Farley had six kills, seven digs and 12 total blocks, including seven solo blocks. The solo blocks are a new career record and the 12 total blocks tie her career record.
- As a team, the Cavs hit .120 for the match with 60 kills, 123 digs, and 31 total blocks.
ABOUT THE PIONEERS
- It was an historic match for Tusculum as well, as they had the fifth-most attempts (237) and seventh-most digs (128) in their program history.
- Foster and Willey led TU with 18 kills apiece, career highs for both players. Foster had an impressive .341 hitting percentage for the match. Adkins had a career night with her 50 assists and Amiranee Au had a career-best 35 digs.
- Foster's seven total blocks and Willey's five were also career highs for both players.
UP NEXT
UVA Wise will have two more matches in October as they host Wingate Friday evening (Oct. 25) at 6 p.m. and Carson-Newman on Tuesday the 29
th at 7 p.m. on the Quillen Court. Next week ends with a rematch of tonight's match as the Cavs will face Tusculum again, this time in Pioneer Arena on Friday, November 1, at 7:00 p.m.
