Clemson Volleyball Takes Down Cavaliers, 3-0, in Charlottesville

Oct. 16, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Clemson volleyball started off their road trip with a 3-0 sweep of Virginia in Memorial Gym. The Tigers (14-5, 5-3 ACC) picked up their fifth win in their last six matches, hitting .363 for the match, while holding Virginia (7-12, 2-6 ACC) to a .099 mark. Lia Proctor led Clemson with a match-high 15 kills, and Kelsey Murphy had her seventh double-double of the season and had three aces.

Jessica Williams also had a solid match, picking up four kills, six assists, and nine digs. Didem Ege led Clemson with 12 digs and three aces. Freshman Alexa Rand continued her strong play with seven kills and four blocks.

With her ten digs, Murphy moved into the top ten in Clemson history in digs with 1,126 for her career, and recorded her 100th service ace. Ege now has 2,036 digs and ranks fifth in ACC history. The win was the 197th for Clemson in the ACC.

Murphy led the first set for Clemson, recording a season-high four kills to go with ten assists, five digs and her 400th career block. She closed out the set with an ace, as Clemson cruised to a 25-12 first-set win. Lia Proctor led Clemson’s attack with six kills, while Natalie Patzin had four. The Tigers hit .368 in the set, while holding the Cavaliers to only seven kills and a .047 hitting pct.

In the second set, the teams traded points to a 6-6 mark. Clemson was then able to put together a 9-2 run to take a 15-8 lead. Virginia wouldn’t go quietly, using a 9-2 run of their own to pull to within 22-20. However, Clemson regained control, taking advantage of an attack error by Simone Asque, then blocking Asque’s next attempt. A Patzin kill put the set away for the Tigers, 25-20.

In the third set, Clemson raced out to a 10-4 lead, extending the lead to nine points at 17-8. Virginia responded with three points to make the score 17-11, but the Tigers rallied with a match-clinching 8-1 run behind three Cavalier errors and an ace from Murphy.

The Tigers will return to action on Saturday in Blacksburg Va., taking on Virginia Tech at 4:00 pm. Clemson will return home for a match with Charlotte on Tuesday before playing host to Duke and Wake Forest on Oct. 23-24.