BLACKSBURG – Fans of Virginia Tech volleyball saw their first glimpse of what the team will be like this fall Friday night, watching the Hokies take on James Madison in an exhibition at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
The preseason tune-up drew a roaring crowd, with an attendance of 3,245, packing Cassell between the two schools that are 140 miles apart. The Dukes, who are the preseason favorite in the Colonial Athletic Association, and the Hokies, under the direction of third-year coach Jill Wilson, met for the first time since 2004.
Junior Marisa Cerchio (10 kills) and freshman Cera Powell (12) led the way on the offensive end, while freshman Logan Mosley racked up a team-high 22 digs defensively. Setter Talyn Jackson dished out 35 assists and tallied five kills and nine digs, just short of a double-double.
Tech's best set came in the first frame, jumping out to an early lead 9-6 lead after a kill from senior Ester Talamazzi. But the Dukes would claw back to tie it at 11-all. However, the Hokies went on an 7-2 run capped off by a service ace from Mosley, forcing a JMU timeout. But the Hokies kept their momentum, getting the next point off another Talamazzi kill and didn't look back to claim it, 25-19.
QUOTING HEAD COACH JILL WILSON
On what she saw from the players in the first set:
"I think we had an emotional high with this place being packed," Wilson said. "A big thanks to the freshmen Hokies that filled the whole section and showed us that they are going to come out this year in force. I thought we rode that high in the first set and did some really good things. We had some young people add stuff, and we will continue to work on consistency, which is the best part about a scrimmage."
On what the team will do in practice next week leading up to its first tournament:
"The biggest thing is just to keep working hard and fine-tune lineup changes and making sure we are putting our team in the best possible situation. And also learning how to learn on our feet and learn on the fly, as well as problem-solve on the court a little bit more. That's the great part about preseason, to work on those specific things."
UP NEXT
Tech will practice the next six days before making the trek north to Ohio to take on host Miami (Ohio), USC Upstate and Northwestern on Aug. 30-31 at the Miami Best Western Sycamore Inn Invitational.Gallery: (8/23/2019) 2019 VOLLEYBALL EXHIBITION GAME vs. JMU