MVP: McKenzie Adams
The outside hitter ended with 264 kills, placing her in the top 10 in program history for kills as a freshman. Her efforts earned her the honor of ACC Freshman of the Year.
Overview: The team struggled out of the gate, failing to win a set in a tournament in Long Beach, California, and losing its first 3 ACC games. Dependence on young players that initially failed to gel resulted in a deep hole for the team to dig itself out of (pun intended, sorry). A midseason turnaround, marked by the emergence of Adams and resulting increase in offensive efficiency, gave the team hope of a NCAA tournament berth that the Hoos fell just short of.
Season Highlight(s): A big weekend in Charlottesville that signaled the aforementioned turnaround. The team beat Miami and ranked Florida State at Mem Gym to cap a 6-3 run.
Season Lowpoint(s): Just as it appeared that the Hoos were primed to make a run to he NCAA tournament, they lost 4 matches in a 5 match road trip to end the year. The team fell a couple points short in a tough one in Blacksburg, a win that would have felt good going into next year
Future Outlook: When youth causes a team to struggle, things should only get better. It will be interesting to see if the team could gain some consistency after an up and down 2010 year and how Adams emerges as a leader. The major contributors from last year will be back, and Virginia should put out a squad well in the upper half of the ACC