FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.- The Virginia Tech volleyball squad captured their opening match of the Arkansas Invitational, defeating Tennessee-Martin 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-16), Friday night at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Hokies (5-2, 0-0 ACC) hit .340 as a team, while holding the Skyhawks (2-9, 0-0 Ohio Valley) to a .143 hitting percentage, and used some late rallies to steal sets two and three. Sophomore Felicia Willoughby and freshman Justine Record both tallied nine kills, while sophomore Amy Wengrenovich added eight. Sophomore Betsy Horowitz led the Hokies with five blocks, and Willoughby and senior Kristen Cunninghman blocked four attacks each.

The Skyhawks stayed within striking distance of Tech early on in the first set, but the Hokies began to pull away midway through the frame. With the score 12-9, Tech won five of the next six points, and never relinquished the lead, securing the set 25-21.

In the second set, the Hokies withstood a strong effort from the Skyhawks, but pulled out the stanza 25-23. Tennessee-Martin controlled most of the frame, eventually pushing their lead to four points at 15-19, their largest advantage of the set. Tech regrouped though, and went on an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the set at 22-21. After gaining the lead, the Hokies never looked back, eventually putting Tennessee-Martin away with Willoughby’s fifth kill of the frame.

Keeping with the pattern of the match, Tennessee-Martin and the Hokies went back and forth for much of the third set. But Tech once again rallied late. Up two at 17-15, the Hokies won seven straight points on junior Jill Gergen’s service, and Horowitz added her seventh kill to close out the final stanza 25-16 and sweep the match.

The Hokies will continue action in the Arkansas Invitational tomorrow, with matches against Lamar and host Arkansas at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively. Lamar beat the Skyhawks 3-1 earlier, and lost to Arkansas 3-0 in the nightcap.