Collegiate Times

Tech junior Amy Wengrenovich goes for a hit Saturday against Wake.

The Virginia Tech volleyball team split its weekend home series, losing to Duke University on Friday and defeating Wake Forest Saturday.

The Hokies (18-10, 8-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) battled against the Blue Devils (24-5, 14-3 ACC) first, but were doomed by costly errors and mistakes. The Hokies lost to Duke (20-25, 24-26, 25-23, 21-25).

The following night, the Hokies regrouped against the Demon Deacons (9-19, 7-10 ACC) and defeated Wake 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18).

In the first three sets against Duke, there were only three lead changes. Tech put up a valiant effort, but 33 attack errors were too much to overcome.

“It is a buzzkiller when you have all this momentum,” junior middle blocker Felicia Willoughby said, “and then you have an unforced error. We need to fix that.”

The turning point in the match was the second set. After being down 21-16, the Hokies went on an 8-3 run to tie the set at 24. Unfortunately, the Hokies couldn’t finish and suffered a loss going into halftime.

“The second set was a disappointment to lose because we put a fight,” freshman right side Cara Baarendse said. “After all the hard work, we couldn’t finish.”

“I think towards the end of games we played with a lot of effort and energy,” Willoughby said, “but I think we just need to come out with that same intensity. We can’t keep starting out slow and catch up.”

The Hokies won the third set to keep the match alive and kept the fourth set close, but they couldn’t win the important points when it mattered.

“We just have to be mentally tough,” Willoughby said, “and push through those tight points. I think volleyball is more a mental game than physical game.”

Another factor in the Hokies’ loss was the lack of production from outside hitters.

“We made bad mistakes at bad times,” head coach Chris Riley said. “For the first match in a long time, our outside (hitters) were not our strength.”

Willoughby and Baarendse instead were the strength of the team.

Willoughby recorded a season-high 21 kills and hit .348 for the match. She also added six blocks.

“(Sophomore setter) Erin (Leaser) gave me sets I really liked,” Willoughby said, “and I give my credit to back-row players.”

Baarendse continued her great freshman campaign by hitting .476 with 11 kills.

“I think I came out this game just being able to see the court well visually,” Baarendse said. “Erin set me up to be one-on-one and swing wherever I want, and I put the ball down.”

As deflating as the loss was, Willoughby, Baarendse and company were able to refocus against a Wake Forest team they lost to earlier in the season. Revenge was definitely on the mind.

“I hate losing to Wake Forest,” Leaser said. “I hate losing to anyone, but since we lost to them earlier, I really wanted to get revenge on them.”

“That made me so mad when we lost to them the first time,” sophomore middle blocker Kirsty Blue said. “We needed to come back and win. We should have beat them the first match.”

Leaser and Blue showed strong chemistry. Out of Leaser’s 52 assists, Blue scored on nine. She finished hitting .471.

“I just wanted to come out, when I finally got a chance to play, and show that I should be out there,” Blue said. “I was so excited to play, get a chance and just have fun.”

“Kirsty was great,” Riley said. “She blocked well, moved well, did the things we needed her to do, made some good swings and was smart with her attacking — she wasn’t trying to overpower, tipped when she need to tip and swung when it was available.”
Besides her 52 assists, Leaser also played well defensively. She registered seven digs and five blocks in the match.

Leaser said it’s all about having fun.

“I always go out and try to be the best that I can be,” Leaser said. “Tonight it was fun. I think when I’m having fun I do really well, and I think that goes for the other girls too.”

It wasn’t until the second set that the Hokies locked in and suffocated the Demon Deacons. The first set was hotly contested with 17 ties and three lead changes. It seemed like deja vu when Tech made unforced errors and couldn’t capitalize on its serve.
Riley made some crucial adjustments before the second set that changed the entire game.

“I thought we made adjustments well in this match,” Riley said. “We changed our blocking scheme from cross to line, and it made a big effect. We made some more adjustments within the match to be more disciplined, which we always haven’t been able to do.”

Riley also issued a challenge to Record, the Hokies’ best server.

“After game one making three (service) errors, we told her another jump-serve error and you’re down to float serving,” Riley said. “She didn’t make another error the rest of the match.”

Perhaps the most interesting factor in the win over Wake was the Demon Deacons’ setter Kelsey Jones. Jones kneeled on a lot of her sets, and Riley noticed why she did it. He told the team to take advantage of it.

“We were talking about that,” Leaser said. “I guess she does it so she can get under the ball to set it back. So our coach said every time the setter goes to her knees, she’s setting back. So that was a dead giveaway, and she really helped us out.”

The Hokies travel to Clemson and Georgia Tech this weekend. Tech defeated both teams earlier this season at home.