With only two seniors on his projected 2012 roster, Tech softball coach Scot Thomas signed only two prospects during the early signing period, and both of them are pitchers from Virginia.
Kelly Heinz, from Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville, Va., and Maggie Tyler, from Poquoson High in Poquoson, Va., both hope to make immediate impacts in the circle after stellar prep careers.
Heinz was named the 2011 Gatorade state player of the year and The Richmond Times-Dispatch player of the year following her junior season in which she led her team to the state championship. She went 22-1 in the circle, with a 0.09 ERA. She recorded 292 strikeouts in 151 innings, and she also hit .455, with five homers and 26 RBI.
Tyler is a two-time softball player of the year by The Daily Press. She went 22-3, with a 0.55 ERA. She recorded 242 strikeouts in 166 innings, and batters hit just .132 off her last season. She also hit .405, with five homers and 26 RBI. As a sophomore, she went 24-4, with a 0.11 ERA and 255 strikeouts in 187 innings.
Tyler earned first-team all-state honors after her sophomore season and first-team all-region honors after last season.
Wrestling program focuses on upper weight classes
Tech head wrestling coach Kevin Dresser signed four prospects to letters-of-intent, with the focus of adding depth in the upper weight classes. The group includes projected heavyweights Dawson Peck and Ty Walz, 197-pounder Huston Evans and 149-pounder Salvatore Mastriani.
Evans is ranked as the No. 25 overall senior wrestler in the country and the No. 4 189-pounder by InterMat, though he projects as a 197-pounder in college. The Springfield, Ohio native attends Graham High School and is a three-time place winner at the Walsh Ironman. He placed second at 189 pounds last year, fourth at 171 pounds as a sophomore and seventh at 152 pounds as a freshman. He enters his senior season with a 126-13 record overall.
Mastriani hails from Towaco, N.J., and attends Don Bosco Prep. He wrestles at 145 pounds in high school, but is projected to wrestle at 149 or 157 at Tech. He placed second at the NHSCA Sophomore Nationals at 145 pounds in 2010 and has gone 70-14 the past two seasons, placing fourth at the New Jersey State Tournament.
Peck is the tallest wrestler ever to commit to the Hokies as he stands at 6-foot-9. The Chambersburg, Pa., and Chambersburg High product placed second at the Pennsylvania state tournament as a junior after going 40-2 with 25 pins, and he has a 90-24 record in high school. But he had “Tommy John” surgery in September and will miss his senior season.
Walz lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and attends St. Edward High. He is another heavyweight who will compete for the job when David Marone leaves. He placed sixth at the NHSCA Junior Nationals in freestyle last year at 215 pounds.
Hardwick adds one to golf program
Tech golf head coach Jay Hardwick signed one prospect in the early signing period, inking Maclain Huge to a letter-of-intent. Huge (pronounced hugh-gee) attends Middleburg Academy and hails from Lovettsville, Va.
Earlier this year, he won his second Virginia Independent Schools championship and was honored as the player of the year, an accolade he received in 2009 as well. He was also named to the VISAA all-state first team for the third year in a row and the 2011 Washington Post All-Met first team.
Volleyball staff signs three
Tech volleyball coach Chris Riley and his staff signed three prospects during the early signing period. The group includes Jenna Jendryk, Kennedy Bryan and Alexa Swann, and all three are from outside the state.
Jendryk hails from Wheaton, Ill., and spent three years as a starter at Benet Academy. She helped a Benet team that was ranked 12th in the country by prepvolleyball.com and eighth by ESPN to a state championship her senior year. The right side player was named an Under Armour All-American as well as the team’s offensive player of the year after her final season.
Bryan comes to Tech from Alpharetta, Ga., after three seasons at Chattahoochee High School. The outside hitter earned AVCA All-America honorable mention accolades as a senior, while also being named to the all-state and all-area teams two and three times, respectively. Touted as a Prep Volleyball All-American as a junior, Bryan was a finalist for both the Junior of the Year award and Gatorade Player of the Year honor.
Swann joins the Hokies from Mertztown, Pa. She was a four-year starter and senior captain at Brandywine Area High School, helping her team to two state championship games. The middle blocker was a finalist for the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year award in 2011, while also being named to the Prep Volleyball Senior Aces Top 250 list. Swann was named the PVCA AA state championship MVP after helping her team to the state title.
Women’s tennis inks three
Tech women’s tennis coach Terry Ann Zawacki-Woods signed three prospects during the early signing period – Raluca Mita, Ilinca Stoica and Kelly Williford.
Mita comes to Tech from Bacau, Romania, where she was ranked as high as fifth in the Romanian junior standings and as high as No. 37 in the senior rankings. She was a finalist in the 2011 National Championship Seniors Doubles tournament and placed third in the National Championships in 2009.
Stoica has achieved a high ranking of No. 74 in the ITF junior world standings. On the WTA tour, she was ranked No. 861 in singles and No. 802 in doubles. The Piatra Neamt, Romania native claimed titles in both singles and doubles at the 34th Sibiu-Sen Junior International Tournament, the singles title at the Kenana Cup and won the seventh SFAX ITF junior championships.
Williford has been ranked as high as 97th nationally in the tennis rankings by tennisrecruiting.net, which tabbed her a four-star recruit. The Basking Ridge, N.J. native was ranked fourth in the state and was a quarterfinalist in the New Jersey High School state tournament.
