East Carolina Drops Pair At Virginia Tournament

Friday, September 16

Charlottesville, Va.

12:30 p.m.

East Carolina University

4-6,0-0AAC

Virginia

7-2,0-0ACC

East Carolina

Virginia

September 16, 2022 | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 ECU-Virginia Box Score (PDF)ECU-Maryland Box Score (PDF)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – East Carolina dropped a pair of matches to Power Five opponents Friday, beginning the Virginia Invitational with a four-set loss to UVA and suffering a sweep at the hands of Maryland.

ECU falls to 4-7 overall with the two setbacks.

Match One: Virginia 3, East Carolina 1 (25-14, 24-26, 25-15, 25-16)
Angeles Alderete paced the Pirate offense with nine kills while Kellyn Trowse added seven kills and 12 digs. Kenzie Beckham led all players with 15 digs to go along with a five-block performance from Kianie Cummings. Chloe Wilson put down a team-high 15 kills for the Cavaliers as one of four Virginia hitters in double figures.

The Cavaliers held the advantage in most of the statistical categories, including kills (63-37), digs (54-46), service aces (7-2) and total blocks (8.0-7.0).

With the opening set knotted at nine, Virginia took control with a 6-0 run that would essentially put things out of reach. The Cavaliers ended up hitting a sizzling .481 on the strength of 17 kills to claim the stanza.

Virginia would race out to a 13-9 advantage in the second frame and later held three set points at 24-21. However, a pair of kills by Trowse and two Pirate blocks saw East Carolina end the set on a 5-0 run to claim it in extra points and tie the match at the intermission.

ECU was unable to keep up the momentum from its second-set comeback as the Cavaliers were able to pull away in the third and fourth frames.

Match Two: Maryland 3, East Carolina 0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-13)
Alderete and Sophia Kruczko both collected seven kills to lead the East Carolina offense against Maryland. Beckham was tops defensively, notching 13 digs. Sam Csire knocked down 15 kills for the Terps to go along with an 18-dig performance out of Milan Gomillion.

Maryland out-hit ECU .362 to .196 and posted more digs (45-39) and total blocks (8.0-2.0). The Pirates did hold the Terps, who entered the weekend as the top blocking team in the nation, under their season average of over three per set.

Maryland held a comfortable advantage in the opener at 16-10 before East Carolina rallied to within 21-18 after a Payton Evenstad ace. The Terps ended the set by scoring four of the final seven points.

The Pirates got off to a great start in the second stanza, building an 8-2 edge, but Maryland eventually pulled ahead 16-15 and never trailed again. ECU was able to slice its deficit to 23-22 on a Terp ball-handling error, but that was as close as it would come.

Maryland scurried out to a 10-3 lead in the third and did not look back, sealing the sweep with a Rainelle Jones kill.

Up Next: The Pirates play their last non-conference match Saturday at Noon, closing out the Virginia Tournament against Mercer.