Tiger Volleyball Falls To Virginia Tech, 3-1, On Wednesday

Nov. 23, 2005

BLACKSBURG, VA – Brittany Ross joined the 20-20 Club in Clemson’s match against Virginia Tech on Wednesday, becoming the first Tiger player in over a year to record at least 20 kills and 20 digs in a match. Ross had 22 kills and 20 defensive saves against the Hokies and is just the 11th different player in school history to achieve the feat. The Tigers, however, suffered a defeat to Virginia Tech to fall to 12-17 overall and 7-14 in ACC matches. The Hokies are now 12-18 for the season and 7-14 against conference foes.

Jeannette Abbott added 14 kills in the Clemson effort, while Anna Vallinch tallied 20 defensive saves as well. Vallinch now has 524 digs for the 2005 season, which ranks her third in the Tiger record books for a single season. She moved into eighth place on the career list with 1,144.

Katie Esbrook and Allie Kupec each had 15 kills for Virginia Tech, while Melissa Markowski tallied three service aces in the contest.

Game one was a well-played, back-and-forth affair that Clemson pulled out for a 30-24 victory. The Tigers jumped in front at 11-10 and took five-point leads at 20-15 and 24-19. The Hokies narrowed the gap to 26-23, but Clemson capitalized on Virginia Tech errors to claim a one-game lead in the match.

The second game saw numerous tie scores and the Tigers held narrow leads throughout much of the period. Clemson had four match points, holding a 29-25 advantage, before Virginia Tech rallied to even the score and then claim a 31-29 win.

The Tigers also held leads late in the third game, winning 27-25. The Hokies’ Esbrook notched two kills to tie the score and Sarah Munoz put Virginia Tech up 28-27. The Hokies scored their final points on an Esbrook kill and block assist with Markowski to win the game 30-27 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Virginia Tech started out strong in the fourth game and survived a Tiger rally to defeat Clemson 30-26 in the game and post the match victory.

The Tigers will enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and will then conclude the 2005 regular season in Charlottesville, VA against the Virginia Cavaliers. The teams will take to the court at 7:00 PM.