Hokies Down Phoenix to complete weekend sweep

Joey Robertson

Staff Writer

September 7, 2021

BLACKSBURG — After starting off its season with two wins on Friday, Virginia Tech looked to continue its momentum into Saturday's match against Elon..

The Hokies (3-0) did exactly that as they beat the Phoenix 3-1 to win the Tech invitational tournament, complete the weekend sweep, start the season without a loss..

Hokies’ head coach Marci Byers has been pleased with how her team has started the season.

“It’s a good baseline for us,” Byers said. “We still have a ton of stuff that we can work on, but I think that this is a good way to start and we can go back and watch some film and start to get better in some areas of the game that we need to get better in.”

The Phoenix didn’t make it easy for the Hokies as they battled back and forth, exchanging points throughout the first set. Elon had tied the set up at 24 all and had the momentum on its side.

That was the case until Hokies middle blocker Tasha Vipond said ‘enough was enough’ as she spiked home two consecutive kills to give the Hokies the set win 26-24. Vipond tallied six kills in the first set and later went on to record 11 kills in the match.

Vipond credited her teammate’s efforts for much of her success.

“Whenever I can get a lot of attempts, it shows that my teammates are doing a lot of things right,” Vipond said. “I'm just thankful that they were getting the sets there and I could just put the balls away and take the pressure off of the other hitters.”

The second set was all Hokies as they continued to find success in the form of Cera Powell. Powell tallied four kills in the set and was an all around nightmare for the Phoenix as she influenced the entire team.

“She was digging, she was passing, and she’s back there serving,” Byers said. “She is doing a lot for us right now and handling a ton of the load for a kid that hadn’t done it in the past. This was a good weekend for her so that she can kinda know what she can do and gives her some confidence going forward.”

The Hokies were definitely feeling the energy going into the third set as they were dancing around to the likes of “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex and “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond.

Freshman outside hitter Grace Kelly was even leading the crowd in the YMCA dance from the Hokies bench.

Outside hitter Griere Hughes was feeling the vibes of her teammate’s antics.

“We’re always super loud and we’re always laughing,” Hughes said. “Everyone on the team is super goofy and that's just our team, no matter if we are losing. We were losing midway through the set and half the team was still dancing.”

The third set was back and forth just like the first set. The only difference was that the Phoenix jump-started their offense behind the performance of outside hitter Leah Daniel.

Daniel was a kill machine as she totaled five kills in the set and went on to record 21 kills in the match.

The Phoenix took the set 25-20 and started to put some pressure on the Hokies.

Some adjustments needed to be made and indeed they were made as the Hokies were able to come out on top and win the fourth set 25-22.

“We rotated our lineup so that we can get a little better matchups offensively and defensively,” Byers said. “I think that we settled down a little bit more and we passed it better in set number 4.”