Canes Blank Hokies to Earn Fourth Consecutive Win

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami rode redshirt senior Katie Gallagher’s error-free performance to a 3-0 victory over visiting Virginia Tech on Sunday inside the James L. Knight Sports Complex. The Hurricanes took down the Hokies in a match televised on Fox Sports.

The 25-23, 25-16, 25-19 victory gave the Hurricanes sole possession of third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference and improved Miami to 19-3 overall and 9-3 in league action. The Hokies’ loss dropped Virginia Tech to 13-11 on the season and 6-7 in ACC play.

Gallagher, a setter from Winter Park, Fla., hammered out seven kills on 10 swings to hit a career-high .700 in the match, while notching a match-high 39 assists and adding eight digs. Senior middle blocker Ali Becker, ranked 16th nationally in hitting percentage and leading the ACC in that department, recorded a match-high tying 13 kills and hit .545 to bolster the offense, while redshirt freshman middle blocker Emani Sims joined them with a .500 clip as she staked nine kills on 16 swings and collected two blocks.

As a whole, the Hurricanes hit .359 in the match, marking the sixth time on the year UMiami has eclipsed the .350 plateau. The Hokies hit .279 in the match behind the efforts of Cara Baarendse with a match-high tying 13 kills without committing an error in 30 attempts to give the senior a .433 hitting percentage.

Senior All-America outside hitter Lane Carico added 12 digs on the afternoon to go along with her 12 kills to give her a fourth consecutive double-double and the 16th overall for the season. Sophomore right side Alex Johnson added a team-high 14 digs and five assists.

Becker has hit above .300 in the last 14 matches consecutively, while hitting .500 or better in seven matches – the last two consecutive.

After trailing late in the first, Miami put together a 7-3 run that erased a 20-18 deficit. The run was started by Carico’s kill off the block of the Hokies’ Samantha Gostling. Johnson recorded one of her six kills on the day to tie the set at 20. After an attack error charged to the Canes allowed the set to become tied again at 23, UM used consecutive errors by the Hokies to take the first set win.

Miami came out of the gate hot in the second set as the Canes jumped out to a 15-8 lead. UM never trailed en route to the 25-16 win. In the third frame, two lead changes and two ties occurred early before the Hurricanes used a 9-4 run that allowed them to put distance between their counterparts from Blacksburg, Va. at 14-8. Sims registered the final kill of the match down the middle to give the Canes their eighth home win of the year.

The Hurricanes return to the court Friday, Nov. 4 when North Carolina visits the James L. Knight Sports Complex at 6 p.m.

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