This Week in The Cassell – Delaney named to Wooden Award list, Volleyball looks to rebound

Basketball

     Virginia Tech senior point guard Malcolm Delaney was named to the John R. Wooden Award preseason top 50 list on Monday.  The Wooden Award is given annually to the top men’s and women’s college basketball player.  Previous winners of the award include ACC players Ralph Sampson, Michael Jordan, and Tim Duncan, among others.

Volleyball

Last week:

       It was a rough weekend in Cassell for the Hokies as they dropped two hard fought matches at the hands of Clemson and Georgia Tech.  Tech’s luck turned sour early in the first set against Clemson as senior libero Amy Wengrenovich suffered a wrist injury on a diving play.  Freshman Laura Misiewicz took over at libero and although I thought she played well given the circumstances, the Hokies fell in set one 25-20.  The Hokies and the Tigers would trade the next three, sending the match into the overtime set, but the Tigers broke an 11-11 tie with four straight points to win the fifth and final set 15-11.  The Hokies out-hit Clemson and stuck 18 more kills, but recorded only 3 blocks in the loss.

     On Saturday the Hokies returned to action against Georgia Tech and quickly jumped out to a 1 set lead behind 7 early kills by senior Felicia Willoughby.  Similar to the previous night, however, both teams traded sets and the Hokies faced their third straight overtime set.  The Hokies and the Yellow Jackets would battle to a 5-5 tie, but after falling behind 7-6, the Hokies would get no closer. The Jackets went on to win 15-9, converting 9 of 10 side-out opportunities in the final set.

Up next:

     The Hokies will have to make their own luck on the road now as they travel to Maryland on Friday and Boston College on Sunday.  Despite losing four in a row, Tech has only played one bad game, a 3-0 loss at Miami.  The Hokies could easily be 13-2 with only one ACC loss.  There are still plenty of opportunities to pick up conference wins, beginning Friday at Maryland.  The Terrapins stand at 12-5 (3-2 ACC) on the the season, with wins over Wake Forest and NC State.  Maryland has played two common opponents with Virginia Tech, losing to Missouri 3-0 (VT won 3-1) and beating Long Island 3-0 (VT won 3-0).  Boston College, picked by the media to finish last in the ACC, currently sits at 8-10 (0-5 ACC).