Blacksburg, Va. – Elayna Duprey had 12 kills on Saturday afternoon to lead the Virginia Tech Hokies to a 3-0 (22-25, 14-25, 18-25) victory over the Furman volleyball team in the Paladins' final match of the Hokie Invitational at Cassell Coliseum.
Virginia Tech improves to 3-0 on the season while Furman drops to 2-1 overall.
Ava Augustson tied Duprey with a match high 12 kills to lead the Paladins offensively and hit .292 for the contest.
Ella Abraham fell just shy of a double-double after finishing with 24 assists and 8 digs.
Kennedy Seekford registered seven digs.
Duprey concluded the match hitting .231 overall for the Hokies while Cara Lewis and Leandra Mangual Duran both compiled eight kills. Hannah Borer provided 36 assists and seven digs. Iliana Rodriguez led the team with 11 digs.
The opening set featured six ties with the teams exchanging the first 22 points to even the score at 11-11. Furman led by two points twice with the last coming at 16-14 when Abraham registered a kill. Following a media timeout, Virginia Tech came out with a 7-3 run to go in front 21-19 before the Paladins made it a one-point set after an attack error. The Hokies captured the set 25-22 with a kill.
Augustson tied the score at 4-4 early in the second set before Virginia Tech responded with an 11-6 run and went into the media timeout leading 15-10. The Hokies outscored Furman 10-4 after that for the 25-14 victory.
The third set also saw the score tied a total of six times with each coming during the initial 16 points. The Paladins held an early 3-2 advantage and later evened the score at 8-8 on a Virginia Tech attack error. The Hokies broke the set open courtesy of a 15-6 run to go in front 23-14 in the later stages. Furman would get a kill from
Grainne McGrath and service ace by Abraham before Virginia Tech claimed the set, and match, the following point.
The Paladins finished the match hitting .133 as a team while compiling 32 digs, 29 kills, and 28 assists.
Furman is back in action on Wednesday, August 30 hosting UNC Asheville in its home opener at 7 p.m.
