Volleyball Downs Maryland And Boston College, Remains Undefeated In ACC Play

By David Cooper
October 6, 2008

If it wasn't one game, it was two.  The Virginia Tech Lady Hokies continue their best start since 1995 and top not one, but two conference teams on the road, starting with University of Maryland.

The Hokies came out strong against the Lady Terrapins, taking an early 3-0 point lead.  Maryland began to match Tech point for point, until errors and blocks started to haunt the Lady Terps.

The Hokies capitalized on these mishaps to take the first set by a score of 25-19, with Taylor Parrish, Kristen Cunningham, or Justine Record stepping up and making crucial plays when needed.  

The errors and unrelenting defense of the Hokies continued Maryland's woes, as Erin Leaser and Felicia Willoughby were the superstars of the second set.  With the strong supporting cast of the defense, Tech held Maryland to 19 points, as the Hokies win the set with the score of 25-19.

With the 2-0 set advantage, it looked as if Virginia Tech would record its eighth sweep of the season, and after a long and hard-fought battle by a rejuvenated Maryland, it went down to the wire.  But the signatures of the Hokies (Wengrenovich, Cunningham, Willoughby, Leaser, Horowitz, Parrish) came through in the end to stop Maryland in its tracks.

As the Lady Terps came up with a rally to try to extend the match, Willoughby delivered the final kill to end the match with a score of 25-23.  This was one of two conference road games tat the Hokies had to tackle on their four-game road series, following up with Boston College.

The Hokies came out strong and jumped to a 15-8 lead before BC took a timeout.  The Eagles never recovered from the blitzkrieg style of play that led to a 25-14 win for the Hokies.

The second set was not won in pummeling fashion.  From the opening serve by Justine Record, to the error that ended the longest set of the night, this was a true point-for-point set.  Lead changes, errors, and defense kept both the Hokies and the Eagles in the match.

It was not until Boston College could not close the match out, after taking a 30-29 lead that Willoughby and the Eagles' own defense that Tech took the set 32-30.  The third set was in similar fashion of the first.

Virginia Tech took an early 7-1 lead, then extended it to 14-8 before BC took the first timeout of the set.  From there, it was just an onslaught brought on by the Hokies as Amy Wengrenovich and Justine Record took the reigns and sealed the match score at 25-17.

"I think we are playing pretty well," Tech head coach Chris Riley said. "Our offense is running pretty well, we didn't make a lot of mistakes. We still have a lot of do, but I am happy with where we are right now." 

The Hokies extend their record to 14-2, with a perfect 5-0 conference record.  They sit atop the division in both conference and total record.  Wake Forest and Miami are in second and third places in the ACC, and take on UNC this Thursday at 7 pm in North Carolina.