Hokie Club
BLACKSBURG – Behind sophomore Kaity Smith's double-double, Virginia Tech's volleyball team defeated Radford 3-2 on Thursday at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum in an exhibition.
Smith led the charge for the Hokies, registering 19 kills on a .382 hitting percentage and 10 digs, while setter Rhegan Mitchell dished out 33 assists and put down a kill.
Starting off the match knotted at 10-10, no team would gain a greater advantage than two points until the Highlanders got on a run and closed the first set with a 25-21.
Tech responded in the second frame going up 11-6 after a service ace by sophomore Marisa Cerchio. The Hokies maintained their lead five-point lead and went on to win 25-19.
Beginning the third stanza with a bang, Radford got up 7-1 to force a Tech timeout. The Hokies rallied, though, and cut the deficit to three, 17-14. Tech would cut it even further, taking it to a one-point set at 23-22, but the Highlanders would get the next two points.
Mitchell earned an ace to make it 11-6 in the fourth set and Tech never looked back, winning by nine points, 25-16, with Smith having five kills and Mitchell owning eight assists alone in the frame.
Tech led 8-6 when the two teams switched sides in the final stanza, and right-side hitter Jaila Tolbert led the way with three kills in the set as Tech finished on a 7-2 run to get the victory, 15-8.
NOTES
- Tolbert finished the day with the second-most kills on the team, recording 14, two digs and a solo block.
- Sophomore Kylie Thomas set the tone on defense, racking up 19 digs. Her career high last season was 13 against Arkansas State on Sept. 1.
- As a team, Tech posted eight blocks and held Radford to a .179 hitting percentage. The Hokies also had six aces.
(8/16/2018) 2018 VOLLEYBALL EXHIBITION vs. RADFORD
QUOTING JILL WILSON
"We are still learning on how to have a consistent mentality from point one to 25," Wilson said. "It's really helpful playing a team like Radford because they are so scrappy and play hard and so fast. It exposes you if you're not staying focused and driving all of those points. I thought we did a better job of responding later in the match with pushing through some of those long rallies.
"When you have an outside [hitter] hitting over .350 in Kaity Smith and also getting double-digit digs, that's a really solid performance by her. I thought we had some people come off the bench and do a nice job, with Abby [McKinzie] making crucial plays at key moments and Tessa [Wyner] came in and gave us a good spark. I thought everyone played well at times, we just have to figure out a way to be more consistent."
STAT OF THE MATCH
- Tech turned in its best hitting percentage when it mattered the most, recording a .357 clip in the final set.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Here we go!#FuelTheFire | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/UH6Q7SGSCn
— Virginia Tech Volleyball (@HokiesVB) August 16, 2018
WHAT IS NEXT
- The Hokies will open the regular season on the road, heading down I-77 to Charlotte for a four-team tournament starting on Aug. 24 against USC Upstate.