NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion volleyball team closed out its inaugural season with a 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 25-20, 25-15) loss to West Virginia on Tuesday afternoon at the ODU Volleyball Center.
ODU wrapped up its season with a 7-11 overall mark and a 4-8 record in C-USA play.
"We were fighting to find our level and then we finally found it for stretches and it paid off for us by winning the third set," said ODU head coach Fred Chao. "I was just glad that we kept fighting, kept pushing and kept working to find that level. It's been inconsistent over the course of the last few matches, not because of us making outright errors, but because of the pressure the other teams are putting on us, but I think we stood up a little better today."
In the first set, ODU played from behind, trailing by as many as 12 points, but clawed back with a 10-3 scoring run to get within five points of the Mountaineers, 23-18. WVU answered with back-to-back points to close out the first set, 25-18.
ODU and the Mountaineers went blow-for-blow in the second set, keeping the match tied 15-15. WVU jumped ahead with three unanswered points, but ODU quickly responded to tie up the set, 19-19. In the final stretch of points, the Mountaineers put together a 6-3 scoring run to solidify its second-straight set.
In its first set victory over a power five program, ODU took down the Mountaineers, 25-20 in the third game. The two traded points in the first half of the contest. ODU began to break away with a Jordan Daniel service ace, which mounted a 5-0 scoring run to give the Monarchs a 20-15 lead. Two WVU kills halted ODU's offensive run, bringing the set back within three. ODU put together a 5-3 run by way of a trio of Hailey Duncan kills and a solo kill from Teresa Atilano to win the set and trail the Mountaineers, 2-1.
In the fourth set, ODU fell behind, 4-1 early on. The Monarchs clawed back to get within one, but the Mountaineers held control the entire game, as ODU fell 25-15 in the final set of the afternoon.
Duncan led ODU with nine kills and five kills. Atilano hit .667 while picking up four blocks, one shy of her career-high.
Volleyball Falls to WVU, 3-1
