Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Setter Rhegan Mitchell registered her second-straight double-double, but the Hokies’ volleyball squad was defeated, 3-1, by RV Notre Dame Sunday afternoon at the Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
Tech (7-10, 1-5 ACC), for the 10th time this year, won the second set, however, the Irish (13-4, 3-3 ACC), who are the second-highest rated team from the ACC in the AVCA Top 25 poll, edged out the victory in four sets.
Jumping out to a 10-4 lead and forcing a Tech timeout, Notre Dame extended its lead even further, owning a 17-9 advantage before the Hokies burned their second timeout. Head coach Jill Wilson’s squad battled back out of the break, trimming the lead to five, 23-17. But it would not be enough as the Irish scored the last two win the first set 25-17.
The Hokies began the second frame with a 10-6 lead following back-to-back aces from libero Carol Raffety, forcing an Irish timeout. Both sides would score seven points apiece, causing a stop in action from Notre Dame. Out of the pause in play, freshman Kai Young turned in a kill, her first since Sept. 8 against Marshall, and Tech kept the momentum from there to claim the stanza, 25-21.
Notre Dame led 15-11 heading into the media timeout after a kill from Jemma Yeadon, who posted a team-best 15 kills for the Irish. The Hokies responded, though, with a 6-2 run to tie it at 17-all. Play would go back and forth but Notre Dame got it to match point, 24-21. Tech would score the next two points on two consecutive kills from outside hitter Jaila Tolbert to cut it to one, 24-23, but the Irish would get the next point to take the set, 25-23.
With Notre Dame leading 11-5 in the fourth frame, Tech rattled off six-straight points behind two kills from Tolbert to tie it up 11-11. The two squads would seesaw until the Irish got hot and finished the match on a 6-2 run to win 25-19. The Hokies will meet with the Irish again on Notre Dame’s home floor on Nov. 10.
The team wore a special ribbon on their uniforms to show their solidarity with the many individuals impacted by the shootings in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. Virginia Tech knows the pain of tragedy after 32 lives were lost on our campus on April 16, 2007.
“We wanted to express their solidarity with UNLV, the Las Vegas community and all of those forever impacted by this senseless act of violence,” Wilson stated. “Many members of our team have a strong bond with Desiree Reed-Francois, who was also instrumental in bringing me to Virginia Tech. We also wanted her to know that our team is thinking of her and UNLV’s student-athletes during this challenging time.”
Current UNLV Director of Athletics Desiree Reed-Francois served as Deputy AD at Virginia Tech prior to her appointment at UNLV earlier this year.
NOTES
- Mitchell tallied her sixth double-double of the season and 16th of her career. The redshirt junior dished out 41 assists and posted 12 digs. Her sister, Rhana Mitchell, chipped in two digs which is her most since opening weekend.
- Freshman Ester Talamazzi almost turned in a double-double as well, racking up a career-high 17 kills and nine digs. The Italy native has recorded 88 kills in conference play through six matches.
- Young had arguably her best match of the season as the middle blocker turned in two career highs (four kills, three blocks).
- Tolbert followed up her season-high 15 kills on Friday night with a 13-kill, four-block performance versus the Irish. For the second match in a row, the Minnesota native led the team in hitting percentage (.417).
- Raffety recorded her ninth-straight match of 10-plus digs, scooping up 18 to move her season total to 245.
- Redshirt senior Stacey Christy in the second set alone stopped four attacks at the net, marking the most blocks in a set by her this season.
- Middle blocker Marisa Cerchio pounded down 10 kills and had a career-best six digs, while chipping in one block.
- Defensive specialist Alex Toben tied a season-high eight digs, her most since Sept. 15 in Tech’s clash with Radford (8).
STAT OF THE MATCH
- For the eighth time this year and third in ACC play, the Hokies had three players record over 10 kills, including Talamazzi (17), Tolbert (13) and Cerchio (10), showing off Tech’s balanced attack.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Addition to the uniform today. Playing for you @DRFrancois1 and Las Vegas! #VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/bOwS9vlwDh
— Jill Wilson (@Jill_HokieVB) October 8, 2017
WHAT IS NEXT
The Hokies will hit the road to the Tar Heel State this upcoming weekend, as Tech will play North Carolina on Friday at 5 p.m. ET and NC State on Sunday at 2 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.