Raffety collects 1,000-dig milestone, Tech defeats IUPUI 3-1Raffety collects 1,000-dig milestone, Tech defeats IUPUI 3-1
Volleyball

Raffety collects 1,000-dig milestone, Tech defeats IUPUI 3-1

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ATHENS, Ohio – Double-doubles by sophomores Kaity Smith and Ester Talamazzi led Virginia Tech's volleyball team to defeat IUPUI 3-1 on Friday afternoon at the Bobcat Invitational inside the Convocation Center.

Smith tallied her third of the season with an 18-kill, 12-dig performance and Talamazzi finished with 10 kills and 13 digs, helping the Hokies (7-0) keep its record unblemished. Maggie Gibson paced the Jaguars (2-6) with a double-double of her own, recording 15 kills and 10 assists.

A milestone happened in the third set for the Hokies, when junior Carol Raffety scooped up a dig to mark the 1,000th of her career. She became the 17th player in school history to accomplish the feat.

Beginning the match with a lead, Tech jumped out to a 7-2 advantage to force an IUPUI timeout. The Hokies would extend their lead out of the break, getting three kills from Smith to force another Jaguar timeout at 22-15. IUPUI cut Tech's seven-point lead to three, but Talamazzi would have the final say with a kill to help Tech claim it, 25-1.

Similar to the first set, the Hokies got out to an early lead to force a Jaguar timeout at 6-1. Tech would maintain its five-point lead at 12-7 until it got hot and went on a 13-4 run due to two kills and one block apiece from senior Jaila Tolbert and Talamazzi to win it, 25-11.

Just like the first two frames, Tech got up early causing an IUPUI timeout, this time at 7-3. But the Jaguars would come back to tie it at 9-9 and would go on to win it, 25-22, behind seven kills from Gibson.

The final stanza saw another Hokie lead early on, with them going up 10-5 after a service ace from defensive specialist Kylie Thomas. Following the break, Thomas would do it again and that would keep momentum on Tech's side as it finished the match on a 15-8 run with fellow defensive specialist Abby McKinzie getting match point on an ace to win it, 25-13.

NOTES

- Smith posted a season-high 18 kills, the fifth-most of her career, and had a .351 hitting percentage, also the fifth-best clip of her career. The Kentucky native has been feeling it at the service line as of late, posting three aces today and 10 in her last four matches.

- Tolbert registered her second-most kills on the year for the second time this season, pounding down 12 kills and owning a team-high .381 clip. She was a force at the net, too, having four blocks.

- Raffety scooped up 13 digs on the day, making her now have 1,004 in her career. The last time a Hokie had over 1,000 digs was in 2016 – two of her previous teammates in Amanda McKinzie and Lindsay Owens.

- Talamazzi recorded her first double-double of the season and seventh of her career, and also had four blocks, which tied a career high.

- After missing Tech's last match, setter Rhegan Mitchell was back in action and dished out 38 assists and had seven digs. The 30-plus assists were the third time this season the Georgia native has had 30 or more in a match.

- Middle blocker Marisa Cerchio had eight kills and nine blocks, including an impressive five solo. The nine blocks were the second-most in her career.

QUOTING HEAD COACH JILL WILSON

"I think our team is still working on having a consistent mentality regardless of what the other team does," Tech Head Coach Jill Wilson said. "IUPUI came out firing away in the third set and I challenged our team on its mentality and that shouldn't affect its game, which we did a nice job of in the fourth set.

"I'm extremely proud of Carol. She puts in a whole lot of time, not only in the gym but watching video. I'm very excited for her and she definitely deserves to reach that milestone.

"We already talked about it a little bit, but we'll talk about it again before tonight's match and that's Ohio is going to fight. It has a long history of being a really hard working team. So, we're going to have to have a consistent work ethic and mentality going into the match."

TWEET OF THE MATCH




STAT OF THE MATCH

- Tech outperformed the Jaguars at the net by a 14-6 block advantage. The 14 team blocks were tied for the second-most in the Jill Wilson era, tying the 14 against Virginia on Nov. 22, 2017.

WHAT IS NEXT

- The Hokies will come back later this evening against hosts Ohio at 7:30 p.m. ET for its second match of the Bobcat Invitational. The match will be available to watch on ESPN+.