Virginia Tech News: Soccer, basketball & volleyball

In this edition of Virginia Tech News, the women’s and men’s soccer teams close out the 2023 regular season, the volleyball team returns to the court and more.

Women’s soccer drops match at Pittsburgh

The women’s soccer team finished the regular season with a 2-1 loss on the road to 20th-ranked Pittsburgh. Trailing 2-0 in the second half, Natalie Mitchell scored in the 84th minute for Virginia Tech to cut the deficit to 2-1, but they could net the equalizer before the final whistle.

It was Mitchell’s ninth goal of the season for the Hokies, who ended the regular season at 7-8-3 and 4-6-0 in the ACC, good enough for eighth place.

Men’s soccer gets routed by Duke

It was not the ending to the regular season the men’s soccer team was hoping for. Tied 1-1 at halftime following an equalizing goal in the 20th minute from Marcos Escoe, the Hokies surrendered six second-half goals to 20th-ranked Duke in a 7-1 loss in Durham, North Carolina.

Virginia Tech finishes the regular season 4-8-4 overall and 2-5-1 in ACC play. They will enter the ACC Tournament as the 10th-seed and will travel to seventh-seeded North Carolina on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The two teams met earlier this season in Blacksburg and played to a 1-1 draw.

Volleyball loses at Pittsburgh

The Virginia Tech volleyball team dropped a three-set match Friday night at seventh-ranked Pittsburgh. Ava Francis had 13 kills for the Hokies who dropped to 12-10 overall and 2-9 in the ACC. They return to the court Sunday at Virginia at 2 p.m.

Men’s NIT Tournament changes rules for qualification

The NIT board of managers announced that regular season conference champions are no longer guaranteed spots in the tournament should they fail to win their conference tournament and reach the NCAA Tournament.

The NIT will guarantee two teams from each of the six major conferences, the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and the SEC. The top two teams in the NET rankings that fail to reach the NCAA Tournament will be selected, regardless of record. The 12 teams from the conferences mentioned above are guaranteed to host a first-round game.

Last season, the Virginia Tech men faded down the stretch of the regular season and settled for an NIT bid, and lost in the first round at the University of Cincinnati.