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Virginia Tech Volleyball Falls to Ohio in Season Opener
Kupec Leads the Hokies with 11 Kills
September 2, 2004
ATHENS, OH. - The Virginia Tech volleyball team opened their 2004 season Wednesday night falling in straight sets, 30-14, 30-26, 30-22, to Ohio University in the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio.
Redshirt sophomore Allie Kupec (Columbia,Md.) led the Hokies with 11 kills on 28 attempts. Senior Annie Spicer (Barrington, Ill.) added six kills in the match and both junior Melissa Markowski (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) and senior Liz Kapp (Aurora, Colo.) finished with five kills a piece.
Freshman libero Amanda Cloyd (Muncie, Ind.) had a strong showing totaling 14 digs, five assists and one service ace in her first collegiate match for Virginia Tech.
The match featured twin sisters Emily (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Katie Smith. Emily is a senior captain for Tech and Katie is a senior captain for Ohio. Both played outside hitter in the game.
Emily had two kills, nine digs and two block assists, winning the battle of the Smith's while Katie finished with a service ace and three digs.
In Game 1, Ohio came out strong taking a quick 5-0 lead on the Hokies, before Tech was able to score three straight points and the bring the score to 3-5.
The early season rust showed as the Hokies slipped to seven points down 7-14. Tech would rally within six points and the score 9-15 off a redshirt sophomore Colette Ramirez's (Valencia, Calif.) kill.
The Bobcats would pull away with a 7-1 run to make the score 25-12. Ohio closed out the scoring in Game 1 with a 5-1 run to make the score 30-14.
Game 2 was much of the same with Ohio jumping ahead to a quick 9-3 lead with the Hokies still looking for some rhythm.
Tech was able to get back into the game after three unforced Bobcat errors to make the score 13-16 with only three points needed to bridge the gap.
The teams would trade points to make the score 17-20 with Spicer making two kills and an ace in the stretch to pace the Hokies.
The Hokies battled back to within two points and the score 21-23, but Ohio would pull away scoring nine points to Tech's five to close the score at 26-30.
The final game of the match started well with the Hokies taking an early 4-3 lead but the Bobcats recovered and went on a 6-2 run to take a 6-9 lead.
Ohio would slowly pull away from Tech with a well balanced attack and solid defense winning 30-22 in the final game.
Ohio had three service aces to Tech's two, but nine service errors to Tech's six. The Bobcats won the dig battle totaling 46 to the Hokies 40, and hit .328 on the night to Tech's .118.
The last and only other time the Hokies faced the Bobcats was Aug. 30, 2002, with Ohio coming away with a 3-0 victory. The time series now sits at 0-2 with the Bobcats holding the advantage.
Tech currently remains with 495 all-time victories in 27 years of volleyball.
The Hokies will return to Blacksburg tonight and begin preparations for the 2004 Hokie Fall Invite, Sept. 3-4 in the Cassell Coliseum.
Tech will play Appalachian State in Game 2, Friday at 7 p.m., then face Lehigh in Game 1 Saturday at 10 a.m. before facing Towson in the final game of the tournament at 7 p.m.
