Virginia Tech Volleyball Swept By No. 12 SMU and No. 1 Pitt In Weekend Homestand 

Dylan Tefft and Miles Jordan

Staff Writers

November 3, 2024

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech was swept for the seventh and eighth times in less than a month at Cassell Coliseum this weekend, dropping matches to No. 12 SMU on Friday and No. 1 Pitt on Sunday.

The Hokies (7-15, 1-11 ACC) have won a single game since wrapping up early-season guarantee games. They’ve gone 1–12 in that span, taking just six of 40 sets. 

No. 12 SMU 3, Virginia Tech 0 (25-23) (25-21) (25-19)

There’s no longer any use harping on the struggles. Tech certainly isn’t. 

Whether it was a 24-19 match point, a 23-all first-set sweat or a postgame stretch following another tough loss, each member of the Hokies was having fun — dancing, singing and losing their minds over every kill despite slim-to-none chances of leaving with a win. 

No, it’s not because they aren’t competitive. No, it’s not because they don’t care. The set breakdown was 25-23, 25-21 and 25-19. Tech is almost entirely made up of players who are closer to high school than college graduation. That team was never going to hoist a national championship trophy, and its record has only proven that. 

Still, knee-deep in a rebuild, it threatened to win every set against the 12th-best team in the country. What’s not fun about that? 

“I think our energy and our everything has gotten a lot better, and that’s really keeping us afloat,” said freshman outside hitter Belle Patrick. “We knew coming in that this was gonna be a hard team, top 15, but I think we gave it all we got.

“Honestly, I think it’s a win in our book. We gave it all we got, we did a great job. We supported each other. We were energetic.”

If you were wondering how getting swept amid a “lost” season could possibly be a win, well, there you go. The Hokies are sneakily competitive in every set and progress each game, all with smiles on their faces. 

Their last bout with a ranked team was similar. No. 25 North Carolina swept Tech, but by a combined score of just eight points. If that’s year one, the ACC may have a new threat come years two, three and beyond. 

The Hokies’ biggest win this season will likely headline all those years: 18-year-old star Patrick, who had a team-high 10 kills against SMU (17-6, 9-3). 

Mustangs Maya Tabron and Naya Shime were the only players on the court to outscore Patrick, with respective kill counts of 14 and 11. Tabron and Shime are four years older than Patrick, and played against a considerably weaker Tech defense. 

“[The Mustangs] are pretty big blockers,” Patrick said. “I’m obviously not the highest jumper or the tallest hitter, but I knew I had to hit high and be aggressive, and just look at the court. But my teammates did a really good job of supporting me the whole time and having my back, telling me where to hit. I think it was a team effort.” 

Patrick’s offensive prowess is nothing new, but a team-high nine digs revealed defensive development — something she’s struggled with this year. The difference in power between high school and Division I isn’t easy for any rookie to handle, and that was true for Patrick until the Hokies’ coaching staff opted to move her to the back line last game against Syracuse, and again for SMU. 

“It was my second time in the back row,” Patrick said. “Having [head] coach [Marci Byers] and all my teammates who are obviously older, they’ve taught me and made me build more confidence on the court, just knowing I have to get after it and not let any balls drop.”

That was a tall task against the Mustangs’ Tabron, who hits as hard as anyone in the country. But Patrick held her own, despite a team-wide failure to keep her at bay. The senior had a hand in eight first-set points, proving herself the difference in a neck-and-neck frame that the Mustangs clinched by two scores. 

“She hits really hard, and she has a really wide toolbox,” Patrick said. “Obviously she did get a couple kills, that was good for her. She’s a great player, but I think we competed with her.”

The second set saw Tabron slow down, giving way to another tug-of-war frame. That is, until she was awoken by her own set-tying attack error. Tabron’s slip-up made it 19-19, then the senior scored all but one point needed for SMU to take the set.

Despite a four-point run fueled by Patrick and Hailey Pearce to even the final set at 14, it was the least competitive frame. SMU kill leader Shime took advantage of a Tech defense that was exhausted after three sets of handling nonstop blasts from the Mustangs. 

Though Tech’s following matchup against top-ranked Pitt was another likely sweep, the Hokies fight, and their excitement for the future will always keep them having fun. 

“I think we get through just really loving each other on and off the court, and I think that that makes us want to fight for each other,” Patrick said. “I think no matter what team is in front of us, we give it all we got. Obviously, sometimes we don’t pull through, but we know that when we come off the court, we had each other’s backs.”

No. 1 Pitt 3, Virginia Tech 0 (25-15) (25-21) (25-20)

The Panthers (21-1, 11-1) entered the contest on a five-game winning streak and hoped to notch their sixth straight against the Hokies, who have struggled against ACC opponents this season. Coming into the game, Tech was the polar opposite of Pitt, losing its last five straight games, and captured a single win in October against Clemson on October 13. 

In Tech’s last five losses, it has captured just two sets in five games, struggling to reflect a positive box score. The Hokies’ matchup against the Panthers fit right into the script of the maroon and orange’s recent history. 

“We knew that coming into this game, it was going to be really tough, but we were really excited to play Pitt,” Tech setter Viktoria Wahlgren said. “They are a really really good team.”

Pitt came out swinging at the beginning of the contest after going back and forth with Tech for the first few points. The Panthers led 7-5 in the first set, but then proceeded to score eight straight points, extending their lead to 15-5. Just like that, the Hokies' first set seemed to be over. 

Tech head coach Marci Byers called a timeout after the first three points of Pitt's run; however, it did not do too much to stop the Panthers' attack. Pitt scored five straight points after Tech’s timeout and sucked the life out of the Hokies, who went on to lose the set by 10 points, mainly due to Pitt’s first-set rally. 

The Hokies were unable to recover after being dominated to begin the game, and it showed not only on the court, but in the box score. Pitt found itself on the board first in the opening set and never gave up the lead or conceded a tie. 

The maroon and orange seemed to take their first-set defeat personally and had a fire lit under them entering the second set. Tech took its first lead of the game in the second set and led by a score of 2-1 after the first-set intermission. 

This was the start of a back-and-forth contest between the two programs, where the Hokies showed flashes of being able to compete with the top team in the nation. Compared to the first set, where Pitt held the lead for the entire period, there were six ties and six lead changes in the second set, and the Hokies truly put the Panthers on their heels. 

Tech freshman outside hitter Belle Patrick breathed life into her teammates and brought an energy to the court that had yet to be seen in the game yet. While Patrick was not the leading contributor in points for the Hokies, her energy not only ignited the players on the court and the bench but led the crowd to erupt multiple times. 

This energy from the fans in Cassell Coliseum, paired with the stellar play from Patrick and Wahlgren, kept the Hokies in the game. The dynamic duo combined for nine kills in the second set — six of which came from Wahlgren, with the other three from Patrick. 

“I feel like we started to find our groove a little bit more, and we got in a little bit better of a rhythm,” Wahlgren said. “We went out with nothing to lose and played with lots of confidence.”

However, their efforts were insufficient to keep the Panthers from capturing the second set 25-21. Even though the Hokies were trailing 2-0 entering the third set, the energy on the court was wholly flipped from the first set to the second. 

Tech players cracked a smile for the first time in the contest, knowing that they played a competitive set against the nation's No. 1 team. This infectious energy carried over to the third and final set, where Tech held an early lead over Pitt. 

Patrick seemed to be the difference maker in the third set for Tech and was a significant part of the Hokies 15-11 lead midway through the set. In a five-point span, No. 10 for the maroon and orange recorded two kills and a service ace to give the Hokies a four-point lead, tying their second-highest lead. 

“She’s carrying a lot of load for this team, and I am really really proud of her,” Wahlgren said. “She’s in the passing lines taking a lot of attempts attacking, she puts up a really good serve, I am just really proud of the way she works.”

However, the Hokies’ high did not last long, and the Panthers proved why they’re the nation’s top-ranked team, flipping a switch after going down four points. Tech led 18-14 in the final set, and that is when the Panthers chose to put the pedal to the metal by scoring ten straight points to take a 24-18 lead over the home team and silence the crowd in Cassell. 

While Tech did not give up and scored back-to-back points to cut the lead to 24-20, it was not enough to fend off the Panthers from capturing the third and final set.

“I think they put a lot of pressure on us and did a really good job,” Wahlgren said. “We can get back in the gym and work on staying calm, cool, and collected, especially in high-pressure moments.”

The Hokies dropped their sixth straight game, recorded their 11th loss in conference play, and once again failed to steal a set for its second straight game. Tech has lost its last six games by a combined score of 18-2. However, the final score did not accurately reflect the Hokies' performance against the top team in the nation and the ACC. 

Disregarding the opening set, the maroon and orange were highly competitive against the lighting attack from Pitt. Wahlgren finished the game with seven kills, Patrick rounded up six kills and three service aces and Hokies right-side hitter Sarah Milonowski led the team in kills with eight. 

Tech should be proud of its performance and move forward with a chip on its shoulder as it prepares to travel to Charlottesville on Friday, Nov. 8, to take on its in-state rival Virginia (6 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra).