The Virginia Tech volleyball team earned two much-needed wins this weekend against the Duke Blue Devils and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The Hokies (13-6, 4-5 ACC) downed the Blue Devils (15-3, 7-1 ACC) 3-1 on Thursday night and swept the Deamon Decons (11-7, 4-4 ACC) 3-0 Saturday night.
The Hokies have struggled so far in Atlantic Coast Conference play, as they logged five conference defeats before the weekend’s matches. However, it seems as if they are back on track, especially since they snapped the Blue Devils’ 13-match ACC win streak. The win is even more riveting since Duke was ranked ninth in the nation in this week’s RPI.
“We played really well and we played at a high level,” said Chris Riley, head coach. “I think it gave our kids a lot of confidence that what we’re doing every day in practice will pay off. They have been working really hard. We’re making drills really difficult for them to be successful, so the game comes easier. They are really buying into it, so I think it plays a big part in the success we’ve had.”
The Hokies jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set against the Blue Devils and never surrendered that lead. Tech then found itself up 17-12, forcing Duke to call its first time out. The time out did not seem to do much for the Blue Devils, as the Hokies ran away with set, eventually winning
it 25-18.
In the second set, the two teams traded points in the first five plays, until Duke finally took its first substantial lead of the match, 11-7. The Hokies then rallied to tie the score at 12. However, the Blue Devils jumped back ahead 17-13. Duke continued their strong showing in the second set with a 22-16 lead, but the Hokies fought back and brought the score to 24-21. Duke ultimately evened the match at one with a 25-21 victory.
Tech quickly went up 9-6 in the third frame, but Duke scored four in a row to take the lead 10-9. The Hokies notched three kills and then won four straight points to go up 16-12. Duke never seemed to recover thanks to a combined 11 kills from junior outside hitter Justine Record and senior All-American middle blocker Felicia Willoughby. Tech won the third set 25-20.
The Hokies used the momentum from the third set to jump out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth frame. Tech never looked back and eventually held a commanding 17-9 lead and continued a high-powered offense to down the Blue Devils 25-17 and 3-1 in the match.
A version of this article appeared in the Oct 20 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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