Clemson Volleyball Travels to Virginia Tech, Virginia

Sept. 29, 2010

The Clemson volleyball team (10-4, 1-2 ACC) will head north to the state of Virginia to take on ACC opponents Virginia Tech (10-3, 1-2 ACC) and Virginia (6-7, 0-3 ACC) on Friday and Sunday, respectively. The Tigers take on the Hokies at 7:00 pm in Cassell Coliseum on Friday night before traveling to Charlottesville for a showdown with the Cavaliers at 1:00 pm in Memorial Gym.

Livestats for both matches will be available at Clemsontigers.com, and live video will be available for a fee on hokiesports.com for Clemson’s match with Virginia Tech.

Clemson holds a 9-6 all-time series edge against Virginia Tech, who comes in to the match after a five-set defeat to #14 Florida State. The Tigers beat the Hokies in their last meeting in 2009, a 3-1 victory in Jervey Gymnasium. Two Hokies are among the top three in the league in hitting percentage as Cara Baarendse and Felicia Willoughby rank first and third, respectively.

Virginia enters having dropped seven of their last eight matches after a 5-0 start. The Tigers are 36-14 overall against Virginia, including taking each of the past four meetings. The Tigers won in Charlottesville last season, 3-0.

The Cavaliers have two players ranked second in the league in defensive categories. Libero AJ Cushman is ranked second in the ACC in digs per set with a 4.81 figure, while Jessica O’Shoney is second in the league in blocking, averaging 1.27 per set. Offensively, the Cavs are led by Simone Asque, who is averaging 4.12 kills per set, second-best in the league.

The Tigers enter the weekend ranked fourth in the nation in blocking at 3.08 per set. Clemson had 21.0 total blocks against Duke in the most recent match, led by Alexa Rand’s school-record 15. They are also holding opponents to .151 hitting, the fourth-best mark in the ACC.

Clemson will play four straight on the road, before playing eight of their next ten at home. The Tigers head to Florida State and Miami next weekend on Oct. 8 and 10, respectively.