Outside hitter Kaity Smith notched the 1000th kill of her career Sunday night to lead the VT volleyball team to a 3-1 defeat of Virginia in Cassell Coliseum.
With the win, the Hokies (4-1) earned their third ACC win of the season and completed the sweep over the Cavaliers. Virginia fell to 1-3 for the season and 0-3 in the ACC.
A graduate student, Smith had a game-high 17 kills, including the milestone 1000th. Smith also notched the 26th double-double of her career as she added 14 digs as well.
Senior Marisa Cerchio had another strong performance as she racked up 13 kills. On the defensive end, Logan Mosley earned her season-high in digs with 21 in the victory.
Speaking of her milestone kill, Smith said, “It feels really great. I really could not have done it without my teammates and the setters, but overall it’s a really great feeling plus it puts a lot of confidence in me.”
The Hokies and Cavaliers traded points early on in the match, but the Hokies would go on a 7-2 run sparked by a kill from middle blocker Angel Robinson to give Tech a 14-9 advantage. It was all Hokies from that point on as they would go on to win the set 25-21.
The second stanza was another tight contest early on, but the Hokies would catch fire yet again and go on an 8-1 run in the middle of the set to take an 18-10 lead. This advantage would prove to be too much for the Cavaliers as the Hokies went on to claim the second 25-15.
The Cavaliers jumped off to a hot start in the third and went up 7-2. Tech attempted to mount a comeback but was halted by a 3-0 run from the Wahoos late in the third putting them up 23-15. Virginia took their first set 25-18.
The fourth stanza was back and forth action throughout. Sitting even at 20-20, Cerchio recorded a key kill which gave the Hokies the lead. Tech saw the finish line and finished the set 25-22 and won the match 3-1.
The Hokies will travel to Durham, N.C., to face off twice against Duke this weekend: today, Oct. 24, at 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 5:30 p.m. inside Cameron Indoor.
