Hokie Club
ATHENS, Ohio – In its final match of the Bobcat Invitational, Virginia Tech's volleyball team fell to the hands of Samford, 3-0, on Saturday inside the Convocation Center.
Senior Jaila Tolbert tallied a team-high eight kills on a .357 hitting percentage, two digs and a block to pace Tech (8-1). The Minnesota native was named to the all-tournament team, racking up 37 kills with a .415 clip and nine blocks on the weekend, while middle blocker Marisa Cerchio was named to the team as well, pounding down 26 kills on a .300 clip and swatting 18 attacks.
The Bulldogs (4-6) jumped to an 11-4 lead, forcing a Tech timeout. Samford would extend its lead to 10 points, 18-8, but the Hokies rallied and cut it to a three-point set at 21-18. The Bulldogs would finish the frame by scoring the next four points to win it, 25-18.
Samford once again got out to a big lead, causing Tech to take a timeout at 10-5. The Hokies would towards the distance in points, with half of Tolbert's kills coming in the set, but would fall 25-20.
Knotted at 8-8 to begin the final stanza, the Bulldogs would go on a 6-1 run to force a Tech timeout. Out of the break, Sophomore Ester Talamazzi would get a kill to cut it to four, but that would be as close as it got, as Samford went on to win 25-16.
Krista Boesing led the Bulldogs with a match-high 19 kills, two digs and a block.
NOTES
- Tolbert owned the highest hitting percentage for the Hokies, hitting a clip of .357 to mark her third consecutive match of hitting north of .350.
- Setter Rhegan Mitchell almost had another double-double, recording 19 assists and eight digs. The Georgia native also put down a kill and had a block.
- Junior Carol Raffety scooped up 11 digs, marking her fourth straight match of owning 10 or more. She now sits No. 15 all-time in program history in career digs with 1,018, passing Amanda Yelsh (1991-94).
QUOTING HEAD COACH JILL WILSON
"I was very disappointed in how our team fought today," Tech Head Coach Jill Wilson said. "Samford played really smart volleyball and we did not respond very well. That is something that we are going to have to improve upon.
"I think we did fight sometimes, but it was late in sets after we would get down and try to fight our way out of it. But by then, it was usually too late. We've been talking about our mentality from points 1-25 and today was really evident that we didn't have that. We got to do a better job of that and get back in the gym and get to work."
WHAT IS NEXT
- The Hokies will head back to Blacksburg and play host to VCU on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. ET at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
ALL-TOURNAMEMT TEAM
Krista Bosing, Samford, MVP
Grace Tiesman, Samford
Shayla Phillip, Samford
Jaila Tolbert, Virginia Tech
Marisa Cerchio, Virginia Tech
Katie Nelson, Ohio
Simone Miller, Ohio
Maggie Gibson, IUPUI