2009 Volleyball Season Review

Note: Check back next week for a full preview of the 2010 season.

     The 2009 Hokies raced to a program-best 9-0 start en route to a 19-12 season, finishing in 7th place in a much improved Atlantic Coast Conference.  The Hokes won their fourth consecutive season openning tournament, taking down Montana, UNC Greensboro and Liberty.  They followed that up by taking the VT Tournament and American Tournament before falling at Virginia in four sets.  Tech dominated it's pre-season out of conference opppnents, winning 32 out of 41 sets played.

     The Hokies undoubtedly played some of their best volleyball in front of the home crowds in Cassell Coliseum.  The Hokies posted a 12-3 record inside Cassell for the season, with all three losses coming to teams that made the NCAA tournament.  The ACC schedule was arguably the toughest it has ever been for the Hokies.  Four ACC teams recieved at-large bids to the NCAA tournament this year, the most ever for the conference.

2009 Season Leaders
Category	Leader	ACC Rank
Kills	Justine Record	-
Assists	Erin Leaser	1
Blocks	Felicia Willoughby	3
Digs	Jill Gergen	8
Aces	Justine Record	2
Hitting %	Cara Baarendse	5

     The Hokies entered ACC play with a 10-2 record.  However, they would be tested early with consectuive road trips to Florida State, Miami, Wake Forest, and Duke.  To make matters worse, Duke, FSU, and Miami were picked to finish 1-2-3 in the conference.  The Hokies managed to beat Miami in five sets, but fell to 18th ranked FSU, Wake, and Duke.  Tech rebounded to win their next five in a row to move to 16-5 (6-4).  However, the Hokies struggled at times through the later half the season, losing 7 of their last 10, including two five set heartbreakers to North Carolina and Maryland on the road.  They would close their season with a 3-1 win of UVA on Senior Day.

     Virginia Tech was led by junior middle blocker Felicia Willoughby, who was named an honorable mention All-American for the second year in a row, and All-ACC honors for the third year in a row. No Hokie volleyball player has ever recieved either honor as many times as Willoughby. She led the Hokies in blocks (1.17/set) and finished second in kills (332) and hitting percentage (.296) despite drawing an extra blocker on nearly every play.  On the outside, Tech was paced by sophomore Justine Record and All-ACC freshman Cara Baarendse.  Record narowly edged out Willoughby for a season high 333 kills, while Baarendse led Tech with a .354 hitting percentage.  Sophomore Erin Leaser continued her success from her freshman season, leading Tech and the ACC with 1,335 assists, good for just over 43 assists/match.  Senior Jill Gergen led the Hokies defensively from the libero position with an average of 4.08 digs per set.