Tech travels to West Virginia for Thunder Invite

The Hokies enter the third week of the season with a 5-1 record

September 7, 2017

Game Notes

BLACKSBURG – Looking to win its third-straight tournament in a row, the Virginia Tech volleyball team will travel to Huntington, West Virginia, to compete in the Thunder Invite hosted by Marshall.

Tech (5-1) will clash against Marshall at 7 p.m. ET on Friday and will conclude the four-team tournament on Saturday versus Maryland at 11 a.m. and Toledo at 5 p.m. inside the Cam Henderson Center.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Fri. | 7 p.m. ET at Marshall | Stats | Stream ($)
Sat. | 11 a.m. ET vs. Maryland | Stats
Sat. | 5 p.m. ET vs. Toledo | Stats

The Conference USA Digital Network will produce the lone Marshall-Virginia Tech match, and you can buy a 24-hour pass for a total of $6.95. Click here to go to the CUSA.tv page.

To follow along with the tournament, Marshall has a static page where fans can stay in touch with all of the action. Click here for the Thunder Invite home page.

The Hokies won their second-straight tournament in a row last weekend when they took on Ole Miss, Arkansas State and SMU. After falling to the Rebels in five sets, Tech reeled off the next two victories to claim the A-State Invitational title behind tournament MVP Ester Talamazzi.

Talamazzi, who racked up 38 kills, 28 digs and four blocks over the weekend, was awarded ACC Freshman of the Week on Monday, marking the Hokies’ second award-winner in a row (Kaity Smith). Three Tech players were named to the All-Tournament Team in Rhegan Mitchell, Talamazzi and Jaila Tolbert.

Tech currently sits atop the ACC and 36^th in the country in hitting percentage, owning a mark of .270. Redshirt senior Stacey Christy has the best hitting percentage on the team with a .340 clip, which is the fourth-best percentage in the conference.

Mitchell leads the ACC in assists per set and total assists, tallying a mark of 10.96 and 274.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

MARSHALL

• The Thundering Herd enter the weekend with a 2-6 record after competing in the Spartan Invitational in East Lansing on Sept. 1-2 and dropping a four-set match to Ohio this past Tuesday. Marshall is the only team in the Thunder Invite to play a mid-week match.

• Head coach Mitch Jacobs’ squad returns four starters from last year’s team, led by outside hitter Jac’cara Walker who boasts a team-high 103 kills. Setter Madelyn Cole owns 214 assists - 9th-most in Conference USA.

• Virginia Tech has a 14-5 advantage in the all-time series, and the most recent matchup between the two schools was on Sept. 12, 2014, inside Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum when Tech won 3-0.

MARYLAND

• Maryland, which owns the best record of any team in the tournament, comes in with an unblemished 6-0 record after a 3-0 weekend at the Liberty Invitational in Lynchburg.

• Freshman outside hitter Erika Pritchard was named the tournament MVP after leading the Terps with 3.64 kills per set and 0.73 service aces per set. Sophomore outside hitter Gia Milana and junior libero Kelsey Wicinski were selected to the All-Tournament Team.

• The Terrapins are coached by Steve Aird, who enters his fourth season in College Park, which is the same amount of time Maryland has been a member institution of the Big Ten Conference after leaving the ACC.

• With both Virginia Tech and Maryland being in the ACC for a little over a decade together, the two teams have played each other 21 times. The Hokies lead the series 11-10 and have won six out of the last seven.

TOLEDO

• The Rockets have compiled a 2-4 record through three weeks of the season, and UT is coming off 1-2 showing at its own tournament. Toledo is led by ninth-year head coach Greg Smith.

• Freshman Emma Swope was named to the BG/UT Invitational All-Tournament Team after tallying 30 kills over three games, including a career-high 16 against VCU, and junior Maurissa Leonard was named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week after recording 57 digs in three contests at the BG/UT Invitational.

• The series between the two schools is knotted 1-1, and the last time the schools matched up was in 1990.

For updates on Virginia Tech volleyball, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_VBall and on Instagram @vthokievolleyball