CLEMSON, S.C. – Three Tigers finished with double-digit kills to propel the Clemson volleyball team (11-7, 2-4 ACC) to a four-set victory against Virginia (8-9, 0-6 ACC) on Sunday afternoon in Jervey Gym. The 3-1 victory was possible after Mia McGrath (16 kills), Camryn Hannah (14 kills) and Cate Long (13 kills) led Clemson offensively.
The freshmen dominated the first set for the Tigers with McGrath leading the offense with six kills off 12 attacks with no errors. Becca Micelle joined her with two aces, while Mia Moore added two kills and a block assist with Colleen Finney. Long added four kills in the set, but the Tigers came up short to the Cavaliers, 25-22.
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead in the second set after going on a 7-2 scoring run behind four kills from Hannah and an ace from McGrath. Hannah and McGrath went on to lead Clemson in the set with five and four kills, respectively. The Tigers ran away with the set after Ani Clark and McGrath tallied back-to-back solo blocks while Hannah and Finney sealed the 25-19 set win with a combined block.
The third set started like the second with Clemson going on a 9-4 run behind kills from Long, Hannah and McGrath, while Devan Taylor and Anna Renwick added aces. Clemson controlled the set stringing together multiple scoring runs behind a balanced offense, service aces and key blocks to take the set, 25-14.
Clemson maintained the lead throughout the fourth set, but Virginia made a strong push to close the gap, cutting the lead down to only two points on multiple occasions. The Cavaliers pulled within one as Clemson held a 24-23 advantage, but a kill from Hannah sealed the set and match victory.
Match Notes:
- Five Tigers tallied at least one ace: Micelle (three), Renwick (two), Taylor (one), McGrath (one) and Mckenna Slavik (one)
- Five Tigers finished with at least one block: Finney (one solo, three assisted), Hannah (two assisted), McGrath (one solo), Clark (one solo) and Moore (one assisted)
- McGrath (16), Hannah (14) and Long (13) finished with double-digit kills for the Tigers – this included Hannah hitting .542 on the match
- Long (13 kills, 10 digs) and Slavik (41 assists, 13 digs) finished with double-doubles
Up Next
Clemson will hit the road for a midweek ACC matchup at Georgia Tech on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. The match will be broadcast on the ACC Network.