Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech’s volleyball team suffered two defeats at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes, 3-0, and Florida State, 3-2, this past weekend. The Hurricanes ,11-2 (1-1 ACC), ended the Hokies’ win streak at eight on Friday night, and Tech almost completed a historic comeback on Sunday against Florida State, 11-2 (3-0 ACC), but fell short.

“(Miami is) a good team and we didn’t come out ready to play and we can’t really go into the ACC not ready to play,” said Felicia Willoughby, senior All-American middle blocker. “So I think we realized that and went to Florida State with a different attitude and I think we need to go into every match with that same type of attitude.”

Miami got out of the gates fast with an early 4-1 lead in the first set. The Hurricanes never let the Hokies, 10-3 (0-2 ACC), get close, as they eventually took the frame 25-18.

Tech came back strong in the second set jumping out to a quick 13-9 lead. The Hokies continued to lead 17-13 until Miami scored six points in a row to take the lead 19-17. The Hurricanes then outscored the Hokies 6-2 in the final eight plays, ultimately winning the set 25-19.

Miami kept the momentum of winning the first two sets to easily take the third set 25-14, earning a 3-0 sweep of the Hokies.

“Miami didn’t make any mistakes. They played almost a perfect match,” said head coach Chris Riley. “We played OK in those first two sets. Offensively we hit .300 in those first two sets. We didn’t put enough pressure on them to force them into enough bad situations.”

Even though the Hokies were swept, junior setter Erin Leaser recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 35 assists and 11 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Cara Baarendse and Willoughby also hit over .400, but it wasn’t enough to weather the storm.

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A version of this article appeared in the Sep 29 issue of the Collegiate Times.