Hokie ClubHUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Virginia Tech volleyball team fell to undefeated Maryland, 3-0, at the Thunder Invite Saturday afternoon inside the Cam Henderson Center.
Tech (5-3), which lost to hosts Marshall yesterday, drops its second match of the tournament to the Terrapins (8-0) and will look to bounce back later tonight against Toledo at 5 p.m. ET.
Similar to last night, the Hokies battled with posting 11 ties in the first set and 12 ties in the final frame, including 11 lead changes throughout the match.
The first set started out knotted 13-13, after two Hokies tallied a kill apiece in Stacey Christy and Jaila Tolbert, while Kaity Smith registered two. The Terrapins earned some momentum on their way to a 23-17 lead, before Tech went on a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to 24-22, though, Maryland got the next point to win 25-22.
Trailing 12-9 midway through the second frame, Tech couldn’t stop Maryland from going on a 6-1 run to muster an 18-10 lead, forcing a Hokie timeout. Tech cut the lead to seven after a Kelly Esch kill, but the Terrapins wrapped up the set with a 25-15 victory.
Leading 9-5 out of the break after back-to-back kills from freshman Ester Talamazzi, the Hokies kept the pace as they pushed their lead to 18-16. With a deficit to overcome, the Terrapins rallied and won the final set in close fashion, winning 25-23 to claim the match.
NOTES
- Tolbert once again led the team in hitting percentage, marking the fourth match this season the Minnesota native has done so. She hit north of .600 during the match, a new season high.
- Setter Mandy Powers saw action for the second match in a row, after dishing out two assists last night against Marshall. The senior followed it up with nine assists and three digs today.
- Christy was a bright spot for the Hokies as the middle blocker posted seven kills with a .500 hitting percentage and one block. It marks the second time the redshirt senior has registered a clip of .500 or better (.556, vs. Idaho State on Aug. 25).
- For the first time this year, Tech allowed an opponent to hit over .400 as the Terrapins recorded a .429 clip on 52 kills.
STAT OF THE MATCH
- Maryland is the first team in 2017 to hold all Hokies to under double digit kills. Of the seven matches Tech played in, at least one player had tallied 10 or more kills. Talamazzi had a team-high eight kills, just two shy of the 10-mark plateau.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Set 3 | #Hokies 🏐 start off 🔥
— VT Volleyball (@VT_VBall) September 9, 2017
Tech leads 9-5 after back-to-back kills from Talamazzi
WHAT IS NEXT
The Hokies will play their final non-conference match on the road tonight as they take on Toledo at 5 p.m. ET to conclude the Thunder Invite.