CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The App State volleyball team rose to 5-0 on the season after a gritty, come-from-behind 3-2 (27-25, 21-25, 23-25, 25-23, 15-6) victory over VCU at the Cavalier Classic on Friday. It marks the Mountaineers' third five-set victory of the 2025 campaign.
App State 3, VCU 2
A trio of Mountaineers slammed down double-figure kills against the Rams, led by senior
Ali Morris, who tallied 15. Fellow senior
Maya Winterhoff made 14 kills on a clip of .667, in addition to a team-high eight blocks (one solo, seven assists). For a second consecutive match, sophomore
Delanie Grevengoed recorded 10 kills and a hitting percentage of .400. Three Mountaineers also tallied double-figure assists, led by redshirt senior
Addison Heidemann, who made 24 assists. Sophomore
MeMe Davis posted the Mountaineers' first double-double of the season and her career with a team-high 16 digs and 15 assists. Junior
Maria Contreras tallied 12 assists. Heidemann, Davis and sophomore
Bella Hutchens combined for six of App State's eight kills, each contributing two.
The Rams established an early 15-8 lead in the first set, but the Mountaineers steadily chipped away at the deficit. Building off kills from Morris, Contreras and Winterhoff, as well as a block from the duo of Contreras and Winterhoff, App State narrowed the deficit to 17-15. VCU managed to reach set point, 24-20, but the Black and Gold answered with a 5-0 run to take a 25-24 edge. Davis secured the set, 27-25, with a kill.
App State and VCU knotted the score 17 times and swapped the lead on five occasions in the second set. As the Rams took a 22-19 lead, a kill from Morris and a solo block from Winterhoff brought the Mountaineers within one of the Rams' late lead, but VCU eventually recovered and took the set, 25-21.
The Mountaineers managed to tie the score twice in the third set, but the Rams' momentum from the previous set carried into the third. Down 23-17, App State went on a 6-0 run that featured kills from Morris, Grevengoed and Winterhoff, as well as back-to-back aces from Davis, which tied things up at 23 all. Despite the run from the Mountaineers, VCU broke the tie and took the set 25-23.
In the fourth set, App State and VCU matched 10 times and traded the lead six times. The Black and Gold opened the set with a pair of kills from Grevengoed and Morris. Down 15-13, the Mountaineers built off a kill from Morris and consecutive kills from Hutchens to push ahead, 16-15. With the help of a 6-1 scoring run, App State reached set point, 24-20. VCU managed to hold App State to a trio of set points, but Grevengoed set Winterhoff up for a kill to seal the set, 25-23, for the Mountaineers.
App State established a 4-0 lead early in the fifth set as a pair of Heidemann aces sandwiched back-to-back kills from sophomore
Lou Johnson. For the duration of the fifth and final set, App State commanded the lead. With a 7-1 run that featured kills from Hutchens, Grevengoed and Morris, the Black and Gold jumped ahead, 11-2. Contreras set Winterhoff up for a kill to bring App State to set and match point (14-5). The duo of Morris and Hutchens went up for a block to seal the set, 15-6, and the win, 3-2.
Looking Ahead
The Mountaineers will take on Virginia at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The match will be available to stream on ACCNX. Both App State and Virginia enter Saturday's contest unbeaten.
