University of Louisville
Virginia Tech
Volleyball Beats Virginia Tech for First ACC Road Win
October 03, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
Tess Clark had 16 kills and five blocks to lead the University of Louisville to their first road win in the ACC with a 3-2 victory over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Friday night.
"The middles paced us as Janelle Jenkins and Tess Clark led us in kills and that is really coming through in pressure," said UofL head coach Anne Kordes. "The entire team left everything out on the court and we came out with a win. It was a roller coaster match and we fought so hard. It was a team effort against a great Virginia Tech team. We are extremely lucky to walk out of here with a win."
UofL outlasted the Hokies with the 25-19, 14-25, 28-26, 18-25, 15-11 win to push their record to 10-5 and 2-1 in the ACC. VT outdug (70-60), outblocked (10-9), outaced (6-2) and outhit the Cards .276 to .221 but UofL scored points in crucial times for the win. It was the Cards' second win in five sets this season. Janelle Jenkins had 14 kills with Laura Blab and Maya McClendon each connecting for 12 each. Katie George had a double-double with 50 assists and 12 digs. McClendon had a match-high 18 digs.
In the first set, UofL hit. 393 led Tess Clark and Janelle Jenkin's four kills. The Cards popped out to a 6-3 lead but the Hokies kept it close for the majority of the set. Cardinal Lyndsay Palmer had the Hokies' number from the service line and a 3-0 run including an ace put the Cards up 24-18. Laura Blab ricocheted a ball off the VT defense for the 25-19 win.
The Cards got overpowered early in the second, going down 15-8 when the hot hitting of the previous set deserted them. Kordes burned both timeouts to try to swing the momentum back but .194 hitting hampered the effort. VT, on the other hand, hit a blistering .514, led by Lindsey Owens' six kills as the Hokies won 25-14 to even the set score.
After the break, the Cards traded punches with Tech in a set that had 11 ties and six lead changes. UofL started winning the long rallies and a huge block by Tess who followed up with a kill to get to 26-25 before a Laura Blab kill sealed the deal for the 28-26 win.
UofL fell behind 8-2 early and got to within four at 14-10 on a Maya McClendon kill. Tech called timeout and then ran off three straight. The Cards, who hit .091 in the set, had no answer for Owens who had seven kills in the set. Tech aced the Cards four times and added two blocks to win 25-18 and force a fifth set.
In the deciding set, UofL had an 11-5 lead and then held off a frantic VT push that had UofL scrambling in long rallies. A Hokie service error put UofL at set point and Laura Blab swiped one off the block for the set and match point.
UofL heads to Charlottesville for a 5 p.m. matchup with the Cavaliers as ACC action continues.
