BLACKSBURG, Va. - Junior Michelle Lang registered her first career triple-double, helping the Virginia Tech volleyball squad to season-opening victory over Maryland Eastern-Shore, 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 21-25, 25-23), in the Hawthorn Suites Hokie Invitational Friday night.

Lang tallied a career and team-high 13 kills, 22 assists and 10 digs, as well as hitting .579 on the evening to lead the Hokies (1-0, 0-0). Tech won their third consecutive season opener, although Maryland Eastern-Shore (0-1, 0-0) did not make it easy.

The Hokies set the tempo in the first set, jumping out to a 5-0 advantage behind the strong jump serve of freshman Justine Record. The Lady Hawks were never able to catch up and Tech took the first set 25-19.

In the second stanza, the Hokies again took the early lead 9-5, but Maryland-Eastern Shore proved resilient, eventually tying the match and pulling ahead 18-19. The Hokies regained the lead 22-20 behind two powerful kills by Lang, and finally put the Lady Hawks away in the set, 26-24, with freshman Justine Record's kill ending a long set-point rally.

Tech seemed to lose focus in the third set. After seesawing early, UMES took a 17-13 advantage and eventually pushed it to 20-15. A late comeback by the Hokies was thwarted on a kill by the Lady Hawks' Whitney Johnson, and UMES took the set 25-21.

With momentum on their side, the Lady Hawks pressed on again in the fourth frame battling the Hokies and maintaing the lead most of the set. A strong spike from sophomore Felicia Willougby gave Tech its first lead of the set since holding a 2-0 advantage. UMES refused to go away, but eventually the Hokies won on Christina Estebane's service error to end the match.

Freshman Erin Leaser, who along with Record, started their first collegiate match led the team with 29 assists. Junior Taylor Parrish collected a team-leading 17 digs.

Tech will continue with the Hawthorn Suites Hokie Invitational tomorrow with matches against Winston-Salem State and Coastal Carolina at noon and 7 p.m. respectively. Coastal Carolina defeated WSSU 3-0 earlier Friday.