The Volleybees (11-5/2-2) are at the halfway point to the season. Before looking at this week's matches, let's take a look at the ACC standings and how things stand. The ACC has 6 teams who are a cut above the other 9. Tech is in that group of 6.
The Cheaters (#9) and Noles (#16) are considered the class of the ACC and will be NCAAT participants. The other 3 in addition to Tech are Pitt (13-3/4-0), Notre Dame (13-3/4-0) and Duke (9-5/3-1). Duke's only conference loss was at Notre Dame.
In each of the past 4 NCAAT's, the ACC has received exactly 4 bids each year. This year, the conference may be making a case for a 5th. Tech just needs to take care of business in matches we should win over the next month. Our next 5 opponents and 8 of our next 9 have losing records on the season to date. The trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Oct. 23, Sun., 1pm, looms very large if the Jackets can hold serve in these next 5 winnable matches. Of course, the Volleybees were sitting in a good spot a season ago at 17-9/8-6 and knocking on the NCAAT bubble door until an inexplicable loss at home to horrible Clemson that really took the wind out of the sails for the team. I believe strongly that this team - a year older and more talented with Freshman, Kodie Comby, coming off the bench and Lauren Pitz now providing strong depth in the middle - is prepped to avoid that kind of late season collapse.
No question the Volleybees are primed for a nice run now thru the month of October. It starts this week with 2 matches. It will be a Wed-Fri set up on the road this week as opposed to the normal Fri-Sun rotation.
Wednesday, 7pm, at Clemson (5-11/0-4), RSN and streamed live via ACC Network Extra
Fox Sports South will televise this match live along with the ACC's other regional sports networks. Clemson leads the all-time series, 35-27, and as mentioned above the win at O'Keefe was a killer to Tech's 2015 season. Tech will host Clemson on Oct. 26, also on a Wednesday, later this month. Clemson won the first 12 matches in this series back when Tech entered the ACC in the early 80's and the Tigers held a 17-2 lead after the 1995 season and extended it to 23-5 after the 1999 season. Tech then went on a run of winning 9 straight between 2000 and 2004. Since then, Clemson has led 12-11. Should be a close match at Jervey Gym.
Friday, 7pm, at Virginia (3-13/0-4), streamed liva via ACC Network Extra
The Cavaliers opened the season 3-2 and posted a decent win at LSU. Since that win in Baton Rouge though, they've lost 10 straight. They did take Duke to 5 sets recently. I expect a tough match at Mem Gym. The Wahoos are coming off a couple of 3-0 losses at Pitt and at Va Tech this past weekend. Tech leads the all-time series, 33-21. As is a common theme with all of our original ACC opponents, Tech lost the first 8 matches in the early 80's when we entered the ACC. But then, Tech won the next 9. Tech did most of its damage in this series during a 20-3 run between 2001 and 2012. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers have won the last 4 in the series - 3 of them in Charlottesville. This will be a tough match for the Volleybees, but one which we should win if we are a legit NCAAT contender.
After this 2-game road trip, the Volleybees return home to O'Keefe for 6 of the next 8 matches. Need a sweep this week. Tech doesn't have any bad losses on the resume' this season and has some quality wins so far. Need to keep that "bad loss" list clean.
More good info from Kurt at volleybees.net... http://www.volleybees.net/
The Cheaters (#9) and Noles (#16) are considered the class of the ACC and will be NCAAT participants. The other 3 in addition to Tech are Pitt (13-3/4-0), Notre Dame (13-3/4-0) and Duke (9-5/3-1). Duke's only conference loss was at Notre Dame.
In each of the past 4 NCAAT's, the ACC has received exactly 4 bids each year. This year, the conference may be making a case for a 5th. Tech just needs to take care of business in matches we should win over the next month. Our next 5 opponents and 8 of our next 9 have losing records on the season to date. The trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Oct. 23, Sun., 1pm, looms very large if the Jackets can hold serve in these next 5 winnable matches. Of course, the Volleybees were sitting in a good spot a season ago at 17-9/8-6 and knocking on the NCAAT bubble door until an inexplicable loss at home to horrible Clemson that really took the wind out of the sails for the team. I believe strongly that this team - a year older and more talented with Freshman, Kodie Comby, coming off the bench and Lauren Pitz now providing strong depth in the middle - is prepped to avoid that kind of late season collapse.
No question the Volleybees are primed for a nice run now thru the month of October. It starts this week with 2 matches. It will be a Wed-Fri set up on the road this week as opposed to the normal Fri-Sun rotation.
Wednesday, 7pm, at Clemson (5-11/0-4), RSN and streamed live via ACC Network Extra
Fox Sports South will televise this match live along with the ACC's other regional sports networks. Clemson leads the all-time series, 35-27, and as mentioned above the win at O'Keefe was a killer to Tech's 2015 season. Tech will host Clemson on Oct. 26, also on a Wednesday, later this month. Clemson won the first 12 matches in this series back when Tech entered the ACC in the early 80's and the Tigers held a 17-2 lead after the 1995 season and extended it to 23-5 after the 1999 season. Tech then went on a run of winning 9 straight between 2000 and 2004. Since then, Clemson has led 12-11. Should be a close match at Jervey Gym.
Friday, 7pm, at Virginia (3-13/0-4), streamed liva via ACC Network Extra
The Cavaliers opened the season 3-2 and posted a decent win at LSU. Since that win in Baton Rouge though, they've lost 10 straight. They did take Duke to 5 sets recently. I expect a tough match at Mem Gym. The Wahoos are coming off a couple of 3-0 losses at Pitt and at Va Tech this past weekend. Tech leads the all-time series, 33-21. As is a common theme with all of our original ACC opponents, Tech lost the first 8 matches in the early 80's when we entered the ACC. But then, Tech won the next 9. Tech did most of its damage in this series during a 20-3 run between 2001 and 2012. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers have won the last 4 in the series - 3 of them in Charlottesville. This will be a tough match for the Volleybees, but one which we should win if we are a legit NCAAT contender.
After this 2-game road trip, the Volleybees return home to O'Keefe for 6 of the next 8 matches. Need a sweep this week. Tech doesn't have any bad losses on the resume' this season and has some quality wins so far. Need to keep that "bad loss" list clean.
More good info from Kurt at volleybees.net... http://www.volleybees.net/
