Hokie ClubLOUISVILLE, Ky. – To close its final match on the road in 2017, the Virginia Tech volleyball squad fell to the hands of Louisville, 3-0, inside Cardinal Arena on Sunday afternoon.
The Hokies (9-18, 3-13 ACC) played right with the first-place Cardinals (21-6, 14-2 ACC) with there being a total of 29 ties and 10 lead changes.
Knotted at 9-9 to begin the match, play went back and forth all the way up to 19-17 in Louisville’s favor, before Tech went on a 3-0 run to force a Cardinal timeout. Out the break, numerous ties took place as the two sides battled to 25-25. Louisville would score three of the next four points to take the first set, 28-26. The frame featured some nail-biting for the fans, as there were 21 ties and eight lead changes.
With the score tied at 7-all, the Cardinals went on an 8-3 run to cause a Tech timeout. After the pause in action, Louisville extended its lead to 20-12, forcing the Hokies to burn another timeout. However, head coach Jill Wilson’s unit put together a rally behind two kills from freshman Kaity Smith and two blocks by redshirt senior Stacey Christy and co., making Louisville take a timeout. The Cards would go on to win the middle frame, 25-18.
Unlike the first two stanzas, UofL got out to an early lead, going up 7-3 as Tech took a timeout to stop the momentum. Both teams would score eight points apiece, making it 15-11 as the Cards held onto their four-point lead. Louisville would make a run to end it, though, winning 25-16 in the final set to claim the match.
NOTES
- Smith, a Florence, Kentucky native, played like she was back in her home state as the outside hitter racked up 17 kills, marking the second-most for her in conference play. Smith had a hitting percentage of .324, her best clip in ACC action and highest mark since opening weekend.
- Middle blocker Cara Cunningham turned in five kills on a team-high .333 clip and three blocks. It marks her third-straight match of owning five or more kills.
- Setter Rhegan Mitchell dished out 30 assists and posted three digs and two kills. The Georgia native has registered 118 assists in the month of November.
- Libero Carol Raffety saw her streak of 18 matches in a row of 10-plus digs come to an end, as the California native scooped up eight digs.
- Junior Jaila Tolbert recorded a career-high six digs, while putting down six kills as well as a block.
- Christy has been a force defensively as of late, tallying three or more blocks her last four matches. The Maryland native had a team-high four blocks and chipped in two kills.
STAT OF THE MATCH
- Tech stuffed eight attacks at the net, tied for the second-most in ACC play. The Hokies recorded seven blocks against Notre Dame on Friday, marking Tech’s best two-match stretch on a weekend in league action (15 blocks).
TWEET OF THE DAY
Set 1 | First frame has been a wild one as it's all knotted at 16-16
— VT Volleyball (@HokiesVB) November 12, 2017
There's already been 13 ties 😱
Six players have at least one kill for Tech
WHAT IS NEXT
The Hokies will head back to Blacksburg to host Florida State (14-10, 8-8 ACC) at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday and Miami (17-5, 11-5 ACC) at noon on Sunday, marking the second time this fall the teams will play each other.