November 2, 2003

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech volleyball team won its third straight BIG EAST match this afternoon when they defeated West Virginia, 3-0, at Cassell Coliseum. Game scores were: 30-17, 30-19 and 30-19.

West Virginia got on the board first with a kill by Stephanie Zolna, but the Hokies responded quickly, scoring four straight points. Strong serving by the Mountaineer's Kelly Mullins brought the score to 6-6. A block assist by the Mountaineers brought West Virginia within three of Tech, 17-20. The Hokies offense was too much for WVU and five straight kills by Tech, three by Annie Spicer and two by Jenny Hill, sent Tech on a 10 point run to win the first game, 30-17. Spicer and WVU's Julie Hockenson led the game with five kills each.

After recording five service aces in the first game, the Hokies continued to be on fire behind the line in game two. Freshman Allie Kupec served four straight points for Tech, including two aces, to put the Hokies up 17-11. Despite a strong effort by the Mountaineers' Hockenson, Mullins and Allison Zemanski, who all led the game with four kills each, Tech pulled off a 30-19 victory. The Hokies again recorded five aces in the match from Kupec (two), Kaitlin McPeak (one), Colette Ramirez (one) and Kelli O'Dell (one).

Hockenson led the Mountaineers to a quick 2-0 lead in the third game with a kill and a block assist with Mullins. This would be the only lead of the game for WVU. Aggressive play on offense by Tech's Ramirez gave the Hokies the 30-19 win and completed the sweep over the Mountaineers. Ramirez led the game with seven kills, while Zemanski recorded four kills for WVU.

All but two of the eight players for Tech who served recorded at least one ace in the match. Recording season bests for the Hokies were Ramirez (two set assists), Hill (.600 hitting percentage) and O'Dell (three kills, 15 assists, one ace, five digs and one block assist). Spicer recorded her 15^th double-double of the season and her 24^th match this year with 10 or more kills. Hill tallied nine kills on 15 attempts with no errors for an impressive .600 hitting percentage.

Virginia Tech improves to 12-12 on the year and 6-3 in the BIG EAST while the Mountaineers fall to 6-18 overall and 2-7 in the conference.

The Hokies return to action on Friday, Nov. 2, when they travel to South Bend, Ind., for a conference match against Notre Dame. First serve is set for 4 p.m.