ROCK HILL, S.C. – Old Dominion volleyball dropped its first match of the Winthrop Invitational, 3-0 to Virginia Tech on Friday night at Winthrop Coliseum.
The Monarchs fall to 2-3 with the loss and 0-2 in the all-time series with the Hokies.
"Tonight was disappointing in that we didn't control the areas of the game that we are capable of controlling," said ODU head coach Fred Chao. "We were slow to start and played catch up the rest of the way. We put ourselves in difficult situations and didn't use the right tools to fix them. We will look to our next opportunity against Winthrop to play our level."
Virginia Tech 3, ODU 0
The Hokies (3-2) put together a 5-1 run in the first set to force an early ODU timeout as the Monarchs fell behind, 10-4. Second year rightside hitter Katie Rakoski and fourth year outside hitter Elisa Maggi both scored a kill and Maggi made a block alongside third year middle blocker Emma Schelah to cut the deficit to 14-12. Virginia Tech’s Reese Hazelton served back-to-back aces though as the Hokies pulled away again, 20-13. An Ivy Cooper kill then secured the first set point for Tech, 25-17.
ODU played a much closer second set, but dug itself an 8-2 hole and was forced to burn an early timeout. Out of the break, first year setter Erica Duffy assisted Maggi on a kill and then made a block with Rakoski to cut into Tech’s lead, 8-4. The Monarchs continued to find success at the net, making another five blocks to take their first lead in the match, 12-11. The rest of the set proved to be a battle with first year outside hitter Leilani Lawrence serving an ace to even the score at 23-23. However, a service error and a block by Hazelton and Isabella Mishler allowed the Hokies to grab another set point, 25-23.
Rakoski had a pair of successful swings to put the Silver and Blue ahead, 3-2 early in the third set. Tech’s Camdynn Gonzalez served an ace to give the Hokies a slim, 4-3 advantage, but a couple of bad sets and a kill by Lawrence saw ODU regain the lead, 6-4. Schelah put away a ball from fourth year setter Kyra Hampton to knot the set at 8-8, but a 3-0 run by Tech sent ODU back to its bench to talk things over. Following another timeout with the Monarchs down 17-11, a Lawrence kill and Maggi service ace helped the Monarchs get to within 17-14. The Hokies halted that momentum by winning the next four rallies, and the sides traded points the rest of the way as a 25-19 tally brought the match to a close.
Lawrence led both teams with 16 kills while hitting .211 on the night. The first year outside hitter also had seven digs with two blocks and one service ace for a total of 18 points. Maggi finished with five kills, a team-high nine digs, two blocks and one ace. Rakoski, in her first appearance this season, contributed five kills, one assist, one dig, and one block. Hampton ended up with 12 assists and three blocks, while Duffy tallied nine assists with three digs and one block. Fourth year defensive specialist and libero Adrienne Peji was right behind Maggi with eight digs, and Schelah recorded five blocks.
There were 16 ties in the match and only five lead changes.
Up Next
The Monarchs return to the Winthrop Coliseum tomorrow for a 2 p.m. match against the tournament hosts.