Clemson Sweeps Virginia on Student Appreciation Night

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson volleyball team took down Virginia, 3-0 (26-24, 25-14, 25-19) on Friday night in Jervey Gymnasium. In the first home televised event since Sept. 26, 2000, Clemson (11-6, 2-4 ACC) used strong blocking and defense to push past the Cavaliers (5-11, 0-6 ACC)for a third consecutive time, improving to 39-18 all-time against the ‘Hoos.

For the Tigers, it was a much-needed ACC victory as they get set for the meat of conference play. Virginia Tech (11-5, 4-2 ACC) comes in to Jervey on Saturday at 7:30 pm after dropping a 3-1 decision at Georgia Tech on Friday night.

Fans who wish to attend Saturday’s match will need to arrive early, as traffic will be turned outbound as the football game comes to a close.

The match was Student Appreciation Night, and one lucky student went home with a new Galaxy Tab after winning an intermission contest.

Clemson’s defense was in full force, tallying 13.0 blocks and holding Virginia to .051 hitting in the match. Alexa Rand had a season high eight blocks in the match, while Mo Simmons added six, also a season-best for the junior. Clemson has totaled 30.0 blocks in the past two matches, an average of more than four per set.

Natalie Patzin led Clemson with 17 digs, and she moved into eighth in Clemson history in career digs, finishing the match with 1218 in her career. Serenat Yaz had a season-best 16 digs, while Simmons had 13.

Sandra Adeleye led all players with nine kills in what was a balanced Clemson attack for most of the night. In fact, setter Hannah Brenner (28 assists, 8 digs, 4 kills, 3 blocks) found Adeleye, Yaz, Kristin Faust, and Simmons for exactly 23 attacks apiece. Rand had six kills in 15 swings as well.

Clemson took control early in the first set, taking a 16-11 lead after block from Simmons and Adeleye. The Cavaliers weren’t done, tallying nine of the next 13 points to tie it at 20-20. The Cavaliers looked like the might steal the set after they went ahead, 23-22 on Jess O’Shoney’s ace, but O’Shoney sent her next service long, and the Tigers set up set point on a block from Simmons and Rand. Virginia went to Natalie Bausback for a kill to tie it at 24-24, but Tori Janowski put her serve into the net, and Kayla Sears hit a ball long to close the set, 26-24 in favor of Clemson.

The second set was all Tigers. Clemson took an early 4-0 lead, before Virginia caught up at 6-6. The teams traded points until Clemson took a 10-9 lead, and stretched it to 15-9 behind a pair of Rand blocks. The Cavalier got a couple back, but Lou Davis served Clemson to a 21-13 advantage, and the Tigers closed out the set on another crucial Cavalier service error.

The third set was tighter, but Clemson controlled throughout, after taking a 5-4 lead. The Tigers hit .278 and held the Cavaliers to .106 hitting behind four blocks and 24 digs in the set. Simmons added seven of her 13 in the final s. Rand also added three kills offensively to help close the match.

Clemson heads on the road to play Duke and Wake Forest next weekend after taking on Virginia Tech on Saturday.