COLLEGIATETIMES
tuesday february 3, 2009 blacksburg, va.
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news TWO ASSAULTS REPORTED OVER WEEKEND Virginia Tech Police sent out emails Friday and Saturday about assaults taking place on campus. On Jan.30 at approximately 1 a.m., a female student was approached at Dietrick Express by three males, where after a brief verbal exchange the female was touched in an inappropriate manner. On Saturday, VTPD received a report of a physical confrontation between a male and female outside of Slusher Wing. Both the alleged suspect and victim have been identified, and the victim is safe and well.
CHECK FRAUD SCAM PERPETRATED IN BLACKSBURG Visitors to the Virginia Tech OffCampus Housing Web site should be on the look out for an Internet check fraud scam, according to Blacksburg police. Three users have been contacted by e-mail and instructed to deposit fraudulent checks and wire-transfer a set amount of money back to the sender. The National Bank checks were from Kroll International. Blacksburg Police ask that others do not act on solicitations. Those who have already done so are asked to contact the police immediately.
sports BRUCE SMITH FIRST HOKIE IN CANTON With his selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, former Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins defensive end Bruce Smith became the first Tech player to receive that honor. The NFL’s all-time sack leader will be enshrined along with Rod Woodson, longtime Bills owner Ralph Wilson, Derrick Thomas, Randall McDaniel and Bob Hayes. Inductions will be Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio.
tomorrow’s weather SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS high 26, low 14
corrections If you see something in today’s paper that needs to be corrected, please e-mail our public editor at publiceditor@collegiatetimes.com, or call 540.231.9865.
index News.....................2 Features................3 0pinions................5
Classifieds..............6 Sports....................4 Sudoku..................6
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year • issue 120
Phishing scam strikes students SARA MITCHELL
ct university editor Virginia Tech’s webmail system allows for communication among students, faculty, organizations and emergency groups. However, between the listservs and newsletters may lie a phishing e-mail that mimics the university and falsely requests personal information. According to William Dougherty, director of systems support at Tech, about 200 students complained this past Saturday and Sunday when a portion of Tech addresses received a phishing e-mail. The e-mail claimed to be from the university and asked for students and faculty to provide their PID number and password to help with webmail maintenance. “Phishing” is a term that refers to a specific sort of spamming that requests information from parties using the identity of a company, or in Tech’s case, the university. These usually occur every couple of weeks. Dougherty said that generally a phishing e-mail through Tech’s webmail hits about 10 percent of the 130,000 valid Tech e-mails. Between 2 percent and 5 percent of those who receive the e-mail respond and pass on the requested information to the phisher. The spam filter on the Tech webmail currently can’t catch phishing e-mails. The difference between spam and phishing is that spam generally originates from a domain site whereas a phishing e-mail is sent from a personal computer affected by a virus or Trojan. The common term for such an affected computer is a “zombie.” Many phishing e-mails are drafted by individuals overseas. “Generally the people don’t even know they’re affected by the Trojan virus,” Dougherty said. “So there’s nothing to indicate to them except maybe a slow computer when the mail is going out that there’s an actual problem.” Mirapoint, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., manages Tech’s e-mail security, in addition to the webmail systems of James Madison University and William and Mary. Tom Doane, Tech’s sales representative from Mirapoint, said that “those attacks were able to get through because instead of a spammer, it was your grandma or your friend’s computer” that sent the e-mail. At this point, 98 percent of Tech’s junkmail is blocked by Mirapoint’s filtering, Doane said. The current technology “did such a good job that that spammers came out with a new means
of attacking you, and the attack was on zombies,” he said. Doane explained that for phishing e-mails, instead of one computer sending out thousands of messages there are thousands of affected computers that each send out a couple of messages, which makes it harder to catch through a spam filter. The phishing e-mail can acquire Tech webmail addresses through the people search on the Tech Web site or use a “shotgun approach” which Dougherty explained was when the phisher will automatically send a message to thousands of name combinations followed by “@vt.edu” and manage to hit a number of valid Tech addresses. While it’s possible for phishing e-mails to originate from Tech addresses, that hasn’t been the case with recent phishing incidents. The recent phishing e-mail from the weekend was traced to an e-mail address from California. According to Dougherty, most university-directed phishing e-mails originate from an e-mail address that comes from a higher education institute, such as that of a university administrator or student. In response to the weekend’s e-mails, Tech and Mirapoint met to discuss the implement at ion of new Mirapoint software into Tech’s e-mail system within the next week, which would catch phishing e-mails, called Reputation Hurdle. The aim of Reputation Hurdle is to use a reputation list that consists of domains and e-mails that have a “bad reputation,” that is, it appears to send phishing e-mails. E-mails from such addresses are sent back with a notice that they have a bad reputation. If the addresses are innocent and not spammers, then the person can fix the problem and get off the list. If a certain Tech e-mail address makes its way onto the Tech reputation list, that e-mail address would be notified that it currently has a “bad
reputation” with Mirapoint and Tech. The student or faculty member would then work with Tech to fix the Trojan and the subsequent phishing issue. This would help decrease the spreading of phishing as a result of Trojans within the Tech community. The specifics of how Tech would shape this policy are still in the works. Doane calls this a “passive policy” because the message still goes through, but the person is made aware that his computer may be a zombie. Because of the webmail’s use
JOSH SON/COLLEGIATE TIMES
to inform the Tech community of emergency information, Tech and Mirapoint don’t plan to hastily block e-mail flow. Such technology can’t stop phishing 100 percent of the time, and so it is important that students and faculty increase their awareness of potential phishing e-mails. Tech will never ask for personal information through an e-mail or even a phone call. “We run the central system, so we can go in and change the passwords anytime we want, so there’s no reason for us to ask for your password,” Dougherty said. He also stressed that phishers are intelligent enough to avoid graphics or HTML that would indicate to a spam filter that it was spam. Because phishers are often from Europe or Asia, the grammar or spelling might be messy
Women top USC Upstate MATT COLLETTE
ct sports staff writer Virginia Tech (11-11) needed overtime in Blacksburg on Monday night. But behind Utahya Drye’s careerhigh 30 points the Hokies defeated the USC Upstate Spartans (10-12) 68-62. Drye got it done on both ends of the floor, adding career highs of 16 rebounds and seven steals to her already impressive night. “She let it come to her,” head coach Beth Dunkenburger said about the Durham, N.C., native after the game. “Hopefully everyone will take a page from her book.” Deadlocked at 54 apiece with under a minute to play in regulation, an offensive foul called on junior Lindsay Biggs gave the Spartans possession with 33 seconds left, but the Hokie
defense forced a shot clock violation and got the ball back with three seconds left on the clock. Two passes got the ball upcourt and in the hands of Biggs, but the buzzer sounded before she could bank-in her turn-around three. The late-game drama was quelled for the overtime period, as the Hokies came out and made 4-of-9 field goals and 5-of-7 free throws on their way to outscoring Upstate 14-8 and finally controlling the game with ease. Aside from the stellar play of Drye, the Tech supporting cast could not muster very much help in the first half, shooting 27 percent from the field and only scoring 22 points. Fortunately for Tech, the Spartans equaled their poor performance with 25 points and just 23 percent shooting. The Hokies jumped out to their biggest lead of the
game five minutes into the second half as senior point guard Laura Haskins began to exploit holes in the Spartan 2-3 zone and found Drye down low to put Tech back on top 32-21. Upstate came back quickly behindseniorKendraWallace's 3-point barrage. Wallace ended up 5-of-12 from behind the arc and paced the Spartans with 19 points. Drye continued to be there when needed, draining consecutive jumpers and then two clutch free throws to knot the game at 54-54 with 2:32 left. The 6'1'' junior contributed her success to her teammates creating space. "I don't really try to score,” Drye said. “I just try to go out there and pick up the intensity on both ends. If I'm open I'll shoot." The game featured 15 lead changes and 38 combined
turnovers and neither team could ever really establish a rhythm. "We were disjointed on both ends. It certainly wasn't our best effort." Dunkenburger said. The Spartans only shot four free throws the entire game, which was a season-low. The Hokies were 10-of-13 from the line on the night. The Hokies’ women’s basketball team fell short Sunday afternoon as well, losing to the North Carolina State Wolfpack, 57-46, in a conference battle within the friendly confines of Cassell Coliseum. The loss dropped the Hokies to 10-11 overall and 1-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wolfpack, on the other hand, earned their first inconference victory this year in six games, advancing to 9-12 overall.
Program engenders scientific interest in youngsters JUSTIN GRAVES
ct news reporter Kid’s Tech University, a program hoping to spark interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) amongst children between the ages of eight and 12 held the first of four lectures and activity sessions on the Virginia Tech campus over the weekend. KTU was developed by the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Tech and through the STEM disciplines offers ageappropriate hands-on activities to help foster a better understanding of these fields for younger children. The program was “discovered” by Reinhard Laubenbacher of VBI, the principal investigator of the program. The basis for KTU comes from a program he first noticed in a newspaper while traveling in Germany. “I was sitting on a bus reading a newspaper, and there was a story in it about a Kid’s University in Germany, started in 2003 by two journalists. They thought of taking eight- to 12-year-olds and enrolling them in an actual university for a day, so to speak,” Laubenbacher said. “Their
focus wasn’t just on science, math and technology; it included all kinds of things. The concept they had was that each lecture would be on a question that starts with a why.” KTU’s goal is identical. Explaining why there are laws in the world or why there are rich and poor people are fundamental ideals that are analyzed on a more scientific scale by KTU. The program currently has more than 400 attendees. “One of the differences in our program is that we are really trying to recreate the whole university experience so that students register ahead of time online, and they have access to an online curriculum that goes with the lectures,” Laubenbacher said. The first event was viewed as a success by all of those involved. Kristy DiVittorio, the project manager for KTU, coordinated the program from sponsors, to volunteers, to parent contact and everything in between necessary to get the event started. “We wanted KTU to be a program for 450 children from a three-hour radius around Tech to come learn science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They will be going through simulations of
actual classes,” DiVittorio said. “We have a lot of undergraduate and graduate volunteers, and they are key in them coming to the university and participating in the program.” Casey Sullivan, a nine-year-old who attended the event, held a particular interest in the attention the children received. “We took a survey asking us what we liked, and if we had comments about the lecture. There was also the Hokie Bird,” Casey said. Her sister Gabby took an interest in the lessons and logistics of coat patterns. “We learned about spiders with striped tails and the stripes and spots of coat patterns, and also saw a chemical reaction with activators and inhibitors,” Gabby said. Both parents, Darrell and Stephanie Sullivan of Harrisonburg, were impressed and pleased with the amount of security for the event. “There were a lot of Tech volunteers at the sign-in/sign-out tables as well as Virginia Tech Police there to help with the event,” said Stephanie Sullivan. There was a 1-to-10 ratio of volunteers to students. Each volunteer, decked out in
see KIDS, page two
since the writers are not native English speakers. Matt Keel, a security engineer at William and Mary, noted a high rate of phishing incidences in universities in the spring of 2008, but said that phishing rates have decreased significantly as students learn to be suspicious of e-mails. Keel said that phishing e-mails are “more effective initially. Now I think people have seen enough of them that they recognize it and throw it away.” E-mail scams continue to develop and adapt to the efforts made by universities to protect the students and faculty. “As we come out with new ways of blocking them, they come out with new ways of attacking,” Doane said. “And we have to play this game.”
Cigarette tax hike may shore up Medicaid RYAN PETCHENICK
ct staff writer Hospitals and health care organizations say the cuts to Virginia’s Medicaid funds could result in layoffs and eventually a drop in patient care throughout the state. Gov. Tim Kaine has cut Medicaid funding to help address a $2.4 billion dollar shortfall in the state’s two-year, $77 billion dollar budget. Kaine has asked in return that the Commonwealth’s cigarette tax be doubled from $0.30 to $0.60 per pack. The revenue gained from the tax, which is estimated to be around $154 million, will then be distributed into Virginia’s health-care fund, also used to support Medicaid. The tax has not been ratified, and is currently has state legislators embroiled in debate. The House Finance Committee Panel, a Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee, rejected Kaine’s proposal last week in an eight-to-two vote. Delegate James P. Massie III voted against the tax and cited to the Washington Post his desire to protect cigarette-maker Philip Morris. Philip Morris opened a research center in Richmond in recent years, according to the Post. But the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association has now released data suggesting that if the cigarette tax is ultimately rejected in the Senate and additional cuts are taken away from Medicaid, 11,314 total Virginia jobs are at risk. Of these 11,314 jobs, it is projected that 6,321 losses would be directly from health-care related services while the other 4,994 would be from the indirect economic impact on the surrounding communities. “When reimbursement (from Medicaid) is cut severely, it has to translate in people either having salaries frozen, or reduction of force or both.” said Steve Morrisette, president of the Virginia Health Care Association. The association is a membership organization made up of around 300 licensed nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Virginia. While there is concern for individuals facing layoffs from budget cuts, the fear that the cuts will translate into repercussions for patients is also present and perhaps more alarming. “If you have cuts, it the affects number of caregivers, so obviously quality of care is impacted at some point because you don’t have as many people to get around and help individuals.” Morrisette said. Jill Hanken, staff attorney for the Virginia Poverty Law Center, gave a presentation to the Senate Finance Health and Human Resource Subcommittee on Jan. 26 regarding the cuts. “It’s virtually impossible to (cut Medicaid) without slashing programs and dramatically affecting provider rates, patient services, and possibly eligibility,” Hanken said. “Without the tobacco tax, there would need to be additional cuts.” In Virginia, there are currently 17,000 long-term Medicaid recipients, Morrisette said. Carilion Clinic provides services to the southwestern Virginia region and is headquartered in Roanoke. The clinic serves 85 percent of Medicaid patients in the area. Between the two clinics the company presently operates, 11 percent of patients are Medicaid recipients, said Eric Earnhart, Carilion spokesman. “We are committed to taking care of patients regardless, and so we will care for our patients no matter what obstacles face us,” Earnhart said. In regard to the current budget cuts, Earnhart said that, “We have to take a careful look at the budget and make good use of our resources now.”
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editor: caleb fleming email: nrvnews@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: tth 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
february 3, 2009
editor: sara mitchell email: universitynews@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: mw 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
‘Score Choice’ allows flex Kids: Technology education when sending test results from page one
KELSEY HEITER
ct news staff writer The College Board has approved a new program that allows high school seniors to choose the SAT scores they send to prospective universities, taking much of the stress out of the application process. Collegeboard.com emphasizes that Score Choice will allow students more flexibility and control over their test scores. It is an optional program, meaning that if students opt not to receive the service all of their scores will be automatically sent to prospective colleges. The new score-reporting feature will be available to high school juniors who plan to take the test in March 2009. Even with the Score Choice program in place, universities will still continue to implement their own SAT requirement policies. Many institutes of higher education, including Stanford, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California’s applications will demand the submission of all scores next fall. The College Board will work with many schools to provide them with the best guidance on how to communicate their policies on test requirements clearly. Virginia Tech is among the universities that will request to see all of its applicants’ scores. “Tech is going to request that we see all of their scores,” said Amy Widner, undergraduate admissions spokeswoman. “We do not want students to be concerned about us seeing their poor scores; we will only look at the highest from the critical reading and math sections.” Widner did not believe that Score Choice would have any effect on
Score Choice Specifics * Students will be able to select which scores they send to colleges by sitting (test date) for the SAT and by individual test for SAT Subject Tests. * Scores from an entire SAT test will be sent — scores of individual sections from different sittings cannot be selected independently for sending. * Students can send any or all scores to a college on a single report — it will not cost more to send one, multiple or all test scores. * Students will be instructed to follow the different score-reporting requirements of each college to which they apply. from www.collegeboard.com SARA SPANGLER/COLLEGIATE TIMES
students who apply to Tech. “I do not believe that we will experience an increase in applications due to Score Choice,” Widner said. And with the economy still struggling, many students may not have the opportunity to take the SAT multiple times to achieve scores that will impress colleges. Shelley Blumenthal, a guidance counselor at Blacksburg High School, explained that some students currently qualify for a fee-waiver program if needed, under a guidance counselor’s discrepancy. “Students who fall below a certain income level are able to register with collegeboard.com and are given the opportunity to take one SAT test for free,” Blumenthal said. The fee-waiver program also allows students to send their applications to potential colleges without a fee. “Students have to do a paper copy of the application and send their fee waiver card in with it,” Blumenthal said. Blumenthal could not estimate the total number of students who will exercise the Score Choice option this spring.
“Students will have to understand what the implications of the program are before they jump into anything,” Blumenthal said. College Board believes that Score Choice will allow students to have more flexibility and control over their test results. Students and their high schools will still receive scores from all of the students’ test dates. Michael Hurst, principal of Blacksburg High School, is unsure of how this program will be seen by his students. “Since most students are unaware of the program right now, I cannot say that it will even make an impact at Blacksburg High School,” Hurst said. College Board is giving students who have already registered for the March SAT test the opportunity to contact them to utilize Score Choice. Score Choice will not influence score-report timing to colleges. The College Board processes scores for the test as quickly as possible after every test date, and the scores are simultaneously sent to the student, the college and any scholarship programs selected.
Tech apparel, was encouraged to help get the students excited, as the younger pupils were expected to look up to and connect with them. EMT staff and Virginia Tech Police also helped with security. “We are very pleased about the police that came out and our EMT staff,” DiVitorrio said. “We were expecting only one EMT, but three of them ended up showing. We were only expecting two officers, but we got four or five. We saw the whole Tech community coming out to support this event.” A majority of the 100 volunteers and hundreds of participants were from Tech and southwest Virginia. “It is very important that a program is supported by the community for whom it is created. This is a program for the children of the Commonwealth of Virginia, more specifically, some area around Blacksburg and southwest Virginia,” DiVittorio said. “In order to argue that such a program should exist, it needs to be supported. This has been terrific — both the university and general communities have stepped up to the plate and supported this program.” The program stressed independence for the children at the beginning of the program. “When they come in we will have them with their peers of the KTU program in a lecture. The parents are watching from another location on campus, but not in the same room as the children,” DiVittorio said. Laubenbacher reiterates that children were separated from their parents in order to recreate the school experience. “Besides the fact that it’s hard to find a lecture hall that sits 1,000 people, we wanted to give the children the feeling of being at a university. We didn’t want this to be a school field trip or a family outing,” Laubenbacher said. “There needs to be some point where the kids are on their own, but it’s also important for the parents to be involved with the education of their children. Hopefully,
one of the things that will come out of it is that parents will appreciate science, too.” The lecture, while geared toward younger children, did not overtly simplify anything. Some topics were even those that students may encounter in a general introductory biology course here at Tech. “We don’t talk down; the lectures aren’t that way. We keep them at the scientific level — they are just geared more toward the kids,” DiVittorio said. The first part of the opening event was held in the GLC Auditorium, while the second portion was held at the Math Emporium. These locations will alternate in the future between Squires’ Haymarket Theatre and The Inn at Virginia Tech. Parents pick up their children at the GLC, and parents can purchase or bring a lunch as well. In this case, the parent or guardian was then physically responsible for taking their offspring to the Math Emporium.
The blog for KTU can be found at kidstechuniversity.blogspot.com. Future dates for KTU are February 28, March 28, and April 18. If interested, contact Maria Laubenbacher at maria@vbi.vt.edu. Despite the more than 400 kids in attendance, this task was completed in no more than 15 minutes. “The event went so well because we were really organized, and that was not a struggle. That was something that helped with the overall program, was the time and effort to make sure that we had everyone on the same page,” DiVittorio said. Parents and volunteers each received a layout of the auditorium and list of the children assigned to each volunteer’s care. This overview also walked through the day and each activity dif-
ferent individuals would take part in. “Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are subjects that should be addressed earlier in education, and we thought that this type of program would be beneficial to the public as a whole,” DiVittorio said. “We don’t want to teach them; we just want to get them excited. If teachers have kids excited about science, then it will be a lot easier to teach them.” Parents suggested a carpooling option for future lectures this year. DiVittorio will be adding a component for this to the online blog. Otherwise, everything else about the program will likely stay intact. “My hope is that this will get students to want to go to college. I think this is a great recruitment tool. That’s my idea for a national program as well,” said Laubenbacher. “Students could go to the virtual version of the university, there is KTU Virginia, or Stanford or Kansas. Anyone from anywhere in the country can look at any part of the curriculum and think ‘Tech has the coolest stuff, maybe that’s where I should go to college.’” As far as the future of KTU after this year’s dates, Laubenbacher hopes that it is widespread. “My idea is to turn KTU into a national program on over 500 college campuses. What we could provide, centrally, is a virtual Kid’s Tech University that would have an online curriculum that is fed by content from several franchises and be very sophisticated, very interactive, with virtual features.” VBI would also like to hold the program here at Tech in future years, pending financial needs. “There are thoughts of ‘let’s do this again,’ but a lot of that depends on funding from either foundations or grants in order to continue,” DiVittorio said. “We are running the program on very limited amounts of money with a large portion of it being donations from VBI.”
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editor: bethany buchanan email: features@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: w 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., f 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
february 3, 2009
Sophomoric second album leaves ‘Fray’ fans wanting JONATHAN YI features reporter
Do hometown heroes always lose sight of their origin after attaining fame? Surely these musicians have a comfort zone. Neutral pastures are all too familiar to Denver’s heartbreak kids, or at least it just feels
the same. The Fray tasted success with their debut album in 2005, which sold more than 2 million copies in the U.S. “How to Save a Life” was nominated for a Grammy and certified double platinum in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But lead singer and pianist Isaac Slade and rhythm guitarist Joe King haven’t let their success get to their heads — or, over their heads. The former schoolmates began writing back in 2002, and their sophomoric self-titled record is proof that the songwriting process hasn’t shifted much.
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SNOW PATROL “Final Straw”
DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL “Dusk and Summer” “The Fray” hits stores today, and the contemporary alternative rock band once again has found itself at a crossroads. The boys have left their hometowns and have ventured off into the city. Their sophomore effort opens with “Syndicate.” Of course I cringed as Slade starts by playing warm
COURTESY OF THE FRAY
chords on the piano, only because I called it. The melody may be unmemorable but I’m convinced Slade is comfortable, and I suppose that’s what matters. “Buried in the ground, hundreds of miles down, first thing that arises in your mind while you awake, bending you till you break, let me hold you now, baby close your eyes, don’t open till the morning light, baby don’t forget you haven’t lost it all yet.” Oh, yes, the lyrics are generic, too. They sound confident, but no one seems to be trekking over dangerous waters. Are they trying to sound like Coldplay? The band’s first single, “You Found Me,” is a testament to a rough patch in Slade’s voyage. Though the song may have only peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, Slade describes it as one of the most honest songs he’s ever written. Listeners are sure to eat this message up. “I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad where the West was all but won,” Slade claims. “All alone, smoking his last cigarette I said, where have you been? He said, ask anything. Where were you, when everything was falling apart? All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang.” Isaac Slade claims that this was one of the hardest songs he’s had to write. “It’s about the disappointment, the heartache, the letdown that comes with life. Sometimes you’re let down; sometimes you’re the one who lets
someone else down. It gets hard to know who you can trust, who you can count on,” Slade said. The album comes to a close with “Happiness,” a 1 Corinthians 13:4 for the under-confident. “Happiness is just outside my window; would it crash blowing 80-miles an hour? Or is happiness a little more like knocking on your door and you just let it in?” Slade ponders. The vocals and guitar simplicity in “Happiness” actually have some sense of purpose. At the end of the day, the self-titled record makes sure to leave room open for expansion. Or was that supposed to be at the end of their debut? People who enjoyed “How to Save a Life” will fall right into The Fray’s self-titled release. Although there hasn’t been much growth in their sound, their steady, steadfast fan base will not be disappointed. Those who thirst for dynamic growth may find the record falls short. But maybe that’s not what The Fray was going for. Perhaps their generic approach is what so many of us are fixated on — I know two million people who may disagree. The tones are comfortable, but at times skin deep. But it’s the predictability of the songs that has me dreading the inevitable radio play it’s going to receive. Those of us familiar with DC-101 aren’t looking forward to radio loops — I think we’ve heard enough Dani California.
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editor: thomas emerick, brian wright email: sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: w 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.; t 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
february 3, 2009
sports in brief The Tech men’s basketball team lost yet another close one, this time against Boston College on Saturday evening. The Eagles defeated the Hokies, 67-66, at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Sophomore forward Jeff Allen recorded a double-double as he led the Hokies with 23 points and 11 rebounds. After a pair of free throws by senior forward A.D. Vassallo put Tech up 66-65 with less than 15 seconds left in the ball game, the Eagles’ heralded point guard, Tyrese Rice, brought the ball down and took an off-balance shot that bounced off the rim and was rebounded by teammate forward Rakim Sanders, who finished and regained the lead for Boston College with less than a second left on the clock. In a last-chance desperation effort for the Hokies, Allen heaved a pass down court, which was in turn deflected by a Boston College defender to end the game.
As a team, the Hokies shot 40 percent from the field and grabbed 30 boards. Only four points of the team’s 66 were not scored by Allen, Vassallo or sophomore guard Malcolm Delaney, who had 18 after notching a career-best 37 against Clemson two nights before. Vassallo scored 21 points, all of them coming in the second half, after a “coach’s decision” kept the senior from starting the game. Boston College (17-6, 5-3) was led by the senior ACC first-teamer Rice who produced 16 points, while forward Joe Trapani contributed with 13 and Sanders with 12. The loss is the second in the last week for the Hokies and moves them down to 5th place in the ACC. Tech (14-7, 4-3) next plays host to North Carolina State on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum. The Wolfpack, 2-5 in the conference and 11-8 overall, will play a home contest against lowly Division-I independent North Carolina Central on Tuesday night before making the trip to Blacksburg. — Ed Lupien
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PITT SWEPT BY TECH QUEEN REIGNS AT SWIMMING AND PENN STATE DIVING The Tech track and field team traveled
CHRIS STACK/SPPS
Inga Beermann eyes a backhand shot on Jan. 28 against Longwood.
WRESTLING OPENS UP ACC PLAY WITH TWO WINS Freshman Jarrod Garnett came up with a pin Saturday with Virginia Tech’s win over UVa. at Deep Run High School. In a grudge match with its in-state rival, Tech came up with a big win to start off its ACC matches. Things got off to a shaky start as Virginia held the lead going into the sixth round. Freshman standout Garnett came up with Tech’s first lead as he pinned Virginia’s Wyatt Anderson halfway through the second stanza. From then on Tech kept its lead and held Virginia to a 21-12 victory. Sunday proved to be another day of
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MEN’S HOOPS DROPS ANOTHER CLOSE ONE
intense ACC rivalry as the team traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face ACC opponent UNC. With another pin, Garnett was able to put the Hokies on the board to start off the contest. Chris Diaz and Pete Yates both picked up wins as Tech secured its 17-1 record, going 2-0 in the ACC. Redshirt freshman Anthony Trongone was able to add another win with a 9-1 major decision over UNC’s Robert McCarthy. Even though Tech lost its last two rounds, Tommy Spellman won a 4-0 decision over North Carolina’s Daniel Llamas to seal the win for the Hokies. Next up for the team is a home match-up in Cassell Coliseum Feb. 5 against Maryland after a weekend without a contest. — Lindsay Faulkner
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The H2Okie men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both captured victories in their road match-up against Pittsburgh this weekend, both teams pulling in their sixth win of the season. In their final meet of the regular season, the 20th ranked women’s team was able to put up 11 individual wins on the day, with senior Megan Newell, sophomore Lauren Haley and freshman standout Erika Hajnal each scoring two wins in Trees Pool on Saturday. Newell registered wins in the 100-m freestyle and 200-m fly in her final regular season meet for the H2Okies, whereas Haley contributed by winning both the 100- and 200-m back events. Hajnal built on her record performance last week by adding victories in the 200-m free as well as the 200 IM. The men’s team put up 13 wins, giving the H2Okies 24 wins on the day. Leading the way was junior Scott Harkins who posted three wins in the 100- and 200-m breast while tying senior Ian deToll for a victory on the 100-m breast. Along with the tie, deToll pulled down his second win in the 50-m free, touching with a time of 21.19. Junior Mikey McDonald continued to impress on the diving front, scoring a first place finish on the 3-m dive with a score of 371.70 as well as coming in second on the 1-m event with a score of 355.43. Both teams swept Pittsburgh in the 400-m medley and 200-m free relays. The women’s squad for the 400 medley consisted of Haley, Abby Barny, Katie Priess and Kaleigh Gomes. For the 200m free relay, the H2Okie women’s team of Newell, Sara Smith, Morgan Allen and Emily Ferguson touched in with a time of 1:34.42 to claim the title in the event. The Tech men of deToll, juniors Chip Hughes and Jonathan Huss, along with sophomore Ryne Francis, took home a win in the 400-m medley relay. And the tandem of Harkins and deToll, who together have five wins, teamed with sophomores Zach Holmes and Richard Ulatowski to win the 200-m free relay. The men will compete in their final meet of the season this Friday against Maryland. Both teams will then head to College Park to compete in the ACC Championships, which will take place between Feb. 18 and Feb. 21. — Ryan Trapp
to Penn State this weekend for its first big away meet of the year where junior Queen Harrison stole the show. Head coach Dave Cianelli had attributed Harrison’s lack of early-season fireworks to a late start in training because of a much-deserved break after returning from the Beijing Olympics. The Richmond product came back with authority over the weekend, winning two separate events. The first win came on Friday, the first day of the Penn State Invitational. Harrison ran the 60-meter hurdles, her first competition at that distance this year, and crossed the finish line first with a meet-record time of 8.02 seconds. The time automatically qualified her for the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. Junior Kristi Castlin finished fifth in the final, 0.31 seconds behind Harrison. Castlin actually was faster in the semifinals of the event, running an 8.05 to Harrison’s 8.06. Castlin’s semifinal time qualified her for the NCAAs as well. Harrison’s second win came on the final day of the events, which were held in Harce Ashenfelter III Indoor Track Facility on Saturday. Running the fastest time of her career in the event, Harrison took home the 400-meter dash in 53.67. She took home the 400-meter dash invitational section title and clocked the current third fastest time in the country in the event. Fellow junior and early-season record-breaker Asia Washington came in sixth with a time of 54.53. Harrison was the breadwinner of the weekend, but the Hokie supporting cast had a solid performance as well. On Friday in the invitational section of the pole vault, Tech took home second and third place, with sophomore Hunter Hall and junior Yavgeniy Olhovsky both clearing 17-00.75. Saturday brought a slew of good finishes for the Hokies. On the women’s side, freshman Aunye Boone took second in the 200-meter dash, less than half a second behind the winner. Freshman Abby Schaffer and sophomore Caitlin Thornley continued the pole-vaulters’ early-season success with a pair of second place finishes. Both equaled or surpassed their season best jump. For the men, freshman Nick Vaughn ran the 400-meter dash in 48.18, garnering him fourth place.
see BRIEFS, page seven
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opinions 5
editor: laurel colella email: opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: mw 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
february 3, 2009
EDITORIAL
Cigarette tax would increase funding for state health care Gov. Tim Kaine has cut Medicaid funding as a result of the $2.4 billion dollar shortfall in the state’s two-year budget. Health care organizations and hospitals say that these budget cuts could lead to layoffs and drops in patients’ care. To address this issue, Kaine has asked to double the cigarette tax in Virginia from $0.30 to $0.60 per pack. The estimated $154 million in revenue gained from this tax would be distributed into Virginia’s health-care system and used to help fund Medicaid. This tax is currently still being debatedintheSenate.According to the CT, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association has released data that suggests that if the Senate rejects the cigarette tax and more money is taken away from Medicaid, 11,314 jobs are at risk, with 6,321 of those jobs coming directly from services related to health care. In these trying times, funds
need to come from somewhere for us to continue making health care available. Those who do not want the cigarette tax raised should offer an alternative about how to come up with the deficit of money we are currently facing. James P. Massie III, a delegate in The House Finance Committee, actually voted against the tax, telling the Washington Post that he did so to protect Philip Morris. Of course doubling the cigarette tax in Virginia during a time when the economy is so bad would hurt cigarette industries, but it would also help the health care industry in a time when the economy is marginal as well. Right now our priorities need to be on the health care infrastructure, not on cigarette companies’ bottom lines. The editorial board is composed of David Grant, David Harries and Laurel Colella.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR International writers and scholars endorse academic boycott of Israel We stand in support of the indigenous Palestinian people in Gaza, who are fighting for their survival against one of the most brutal uses of state power in both this century and the last. We condemn Israel’s recent (December 2008/ January 2009) breaches of international law in the Gaza Strip, which include the bombing of densely populated neighborhoods, illegal deployment of the chemical white phosphorous, and attacks on schools, ambulances, relief agencies, hospitals, universities, and places of worship. We condemn Israel’s restriction of access to media and aid workers. We reject as false Israel’s characterization of its military attacks on Gaza as retaliation. Israel’s latest assault on Gaza is part of its longtime racist jurisprudence against its indigenous Palestinian population, during which the Israeli state has systematically dispossessed, starved, tortured, and economically exploited the Palestinian people. We reject as untrue the Israeli government’s claims that the Palestinians use civilians as human shields, and that Hamas is an irredeemable terrorist organi-
zation. Without endorsing its platforms or philosophy, we recognize Hamas as a democratically elected ruling party. We do not endorse the regime of any existing Arab state and call for the upholding of internationally mandated human rights and democratic elections in all Arab states. We call upon our fellow writers and academics in the United States to question discourses that justify and rationalize injustice, and to address Israeli assaults on civilians in Gaza as one of the most important moral issues of our time. We call upon institutions of higher education in the U.S. to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions, dissolve study abroad programs in Israel, and divest institutional funds from Israeli companies, using the 1980s boycott against apartheid South Africa as a model. We call on all people of conscience to join us in boycotting Israeli products and institutions until a just, democratic state for all residents of Palestine/Israel comes into existence. Steven Salaita Assistant Professor, department of English Virginia Tech Please visit collegiatetimes.com to view the signatures of others who have signed this petition.
Your letter could be here. E-mail us at: opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com
Expanding death penalty is no way to enforce the law MICHELLE SKEEN regular columnist “Death” is a terrifying word. It’s a topic we don’t like thinking about or discussing. It’s an issue that encompasses many others — religion, justice, science and technology. It’s an easy way to bring a cloud to a conversation, yet here at Virginia Tech it seems we have encountered it far too often. The Virginia Senate has approved legislation that will expand capital punishment. If the bill makes it through the House of Delegates and Gov. Tim Kaine, the death penalty could be used for murder accomplices who don’t do the actual killing. The death penalty has been a controversial issue for years, but particularly in our own state. The United States is one of the few industrialized western nations that still employ a death penalty, but 14 states have outlawed it in their own constitutions. However, capital punishment is strongest in the South, and Virginia has executed more inmates than any other state except Texas since 1976. Now it appears we are looking to increase that number. Violent crimes have turned into something citizens in our community have become more aware of in the past few years, with obvious examples of April 16 and the recent loss of fellow student Xin Yang. The question is, what is the appropriate reaction to those who have committed serious crimes like these? On one side there is the “eye for an eye” opinion. If someone takes a life, his or her own life should be taken. Some families of victims have this reaction because they need closure; they need
someone to pay for their loss. Other family members, such as a man who lost a daughter in the Oklahoma City bombings, said watching McVeigh die wouldn’t bring her back or end his grief. Does the death penalty make everything better, bring things back to even, or just stir up more hate? Another question to ask American citizens is how much faith we have in our judicial system. Since 1973, more than 120 people have been released from death row after having their innocence proven — this is after being sentenced to death. Nobody could ever know how many people have been wrongly executed. The number of course can’t be too large with improved DNA testing and better evidence, but the court system can’t be perfect. In a ruling of life and death, it begins to matter a lot more. Sister Helen Prejean has written a few books, including “The Death of Innocents” on inmates whom she believes were wrongly executed on death row. They range from issues of race to mental handicaps and simple lack of evidence. And that doesn’t begin to touch on the issues surrounding juveniles and women. Next we move to the question of alternatives. Many death penalty proponents argue that too much of taxpayers’ money goes into keeping criminals in prison. What they don’t realize is after appeals processes and execution costs, sending inmates to death row is actually more expensive. For example, the California capital punishment system costs taxpayers $114 million more per year past the costs of locking prisoners up for life. Taxpayers have paid more than $250 million for each of the state’s executions, according a 2005 L.A. Times
article. Another study done by Duke University proved similar results, stating that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the cost of sentencing criminals to life in prison. Most of the costs come from the trial level. In the same realm, which is a worse punishment for someone who commits a murder: A mundane, solitary life lived out in prison or instant death? Not to bring television storylines into a serious subject, but even on Grey’s Anatomy last week, all the death row patient wanted was to go ahead and die. Death is a hard thing to confront. People who cause death are even harder. Many of us have experienced the pain and grief of losing someone we love, and, of course, it is far more intense if there is someone to blame for it. Yet the issue remains whether it is right to stoop to the level of taking life as retribution. Does it make our government legitimate in killing, even if the result is killing a killer? If we continue to take human lives, even unworthy ones, we cannot claim to be completely innocent ourselves. And now, the state of Virginia is looking to create more opportunities to expand capital punishment. If nothing else, I think it should become more narrowed down to only the most vile and deserving crimes, if it’s not eliminated altogether. The death penalty question is a hard one to answer. It’s a question of gray areas and specific situations and cases. But in the end, the quote still stays in my head: “Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?”
The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 Collegiate Times Editorial Staff Editor in Chief David Grant Managing Editors David Harries, Sara Spangler Public Editor Cate Summers Special Sections Editor Meg Miller News Editors Caleb Fleming, Sara Mitchell News Reporters Gordon Block, Zach Crizer, Justin Graves, Riley Prendergast, T. Rees Shapiro, Rebecca Thomas News Staff Writers Shannon Aud, Ryan Trapp, Gabe McVey Features Editor Bethany Buchanan Features Reporters Topher Forhecz, Teresa Tobat, Jonathan Yi Opinions Editors Laurel Colella, David McIlroy Opinions Staff Sally Bull, Jackie Peters Sports Editors Thomas Emerick, Brian Wright Sports Reporters Joe Crandley, Justin Long, Ed Lupien, Melanie Wadden Sports Staff Writers Garrett Busic, Matt Collette, Lindsay Faulkner, Hattie Francis, Alex Jackson, Mike Littier Copy Editors Erin Corbey, Thandiwe Ogbonna, Kristen Walker, Michelle Rivera Layout Designers Go-Eun Choi, Kelly Harrigan, Rachel McGiboney, Mina Noorbakhsh, Josh Son Illustrator Mina Noorbakhsh Multimedia Editor Phillip Murillas Multimedia Producer Matthew Langan, Becky Wilson Multimedia Reporters Candice Chu, Bryce Stucki, Peter Velz Online Director Sam Eberspacher Collegiate Times Business Staff Business Manager Ryan McConnell College Media Solutions Staff Advertising Director Patrick Fitzgerald Asst Advertising Directors Tyler Ervin Jenna Given, Katelynn Reilly Ads Production Manager Anika Stickles Asst Production Manager Alyssa Peltier Ads Production/Creation Breanna Benz, Alllison Bhatta, Jennifer DiMarco, Lisa Hoang, Rebecca Smeenk, Lindsay Smith, Lara Treadwell National Account Executive Account Executives Libbey Arner, Aaron Brock, Maggie Crosby, Brandon Collins, Oran Duncan, Judi Glass, Alex Iskounen, Kendall Kapetanakis, Marcello Sandoval, Amanda Sparks, Jennifer Vaughn Assistant Account Executives Kaelynn Kurtz, Carissa Nichols, Diane Revalski, Tyler Terhune Marketing Manager Office Manager Student Publication Photo Staff Director of Photography Sally Bull Business Manager Paul Platz
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We should all be working toward cultivating the campus climate We are Virginia Tech. And we are starving. No, not because our meal plans are running low or because grocery money was guzzled BAKAR down in a game of bar golf during last O. BEY week’s rush. regular We are starving columnist because today’s Hokie has no way to grow. I believe most students will agree that the Virginia Tech climate does not offer enough diverse social alternatives or expressive outlets. Sure there are sporting events. Go Hokies. There’s the inevitable trip “downtown” so many of us look forward to every week (insert smiley). Go Hokies. Some even get involved with intramurals, special clubs, the student government, programs, services and organizations. Go Hokies! But in my time at Virginia Tech, I have become fairly disappointed in the number of programs and organizations meant to cultivate the true talents and gifts of this Hokie Nation. That’s not to say you aren’t trying, but somehow the voices of the future are still being suppressed and overshadowed. We’re overloaded with courses and assignments, filtered through the gates of curriculum, and put so much effort into trying to secure a 4.0, or stay above a 2.0 … by the time graduation rolls around we’ve left nothing on the campus to be proud of or that says, “I am a Hokie. I was here.” Creatively, the atmosphere is stale, and not because there aren’t bold individuals willing to take some chances. I remember a guy who used to whistle what sounded like theme music to the classic SNES RPG favorites (Zelda, Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, you know what I’m talking about) on his way to class. I
even kicked a freestyle with him once in transit. What happened to him? Did he graduate? My point is, I don’t think the university has made it enough of an agenda to cultivate a campus climate which encourages active participation in the college experience. We listen to lectures, watch all the sports, get credit to attend, or pity, the annual cultural shows I feel actually expand collective interests and understanding, but rarely have I seen a university department fully endorse an effort for the students, by the students. Maybe it’s just me, but when I graduate next fall, I want to have a legacy that isn’t strictly football-and-alcohol-related to come back to. We even have a wealth of faculty, staff and graduates nationally recognized for their creative abilities. Distinguished professors such as Nikki Giovanni, Fred D’Aguiar and Lucinda Roy for their poetry, and Tony Distler and Bernard Dukore for direction and production of the performing arts are all great assets to this campus. But outside of the classroom, how are their prolific resources being utilized to cultivate the same achievement among the student body? Essentially, the paid faculty is all that remains when we move on, and it seems the university is satisfied with us just renting this university experience. Ironically, I bet alumni contributions reflect that same spirit, especially recent graduates of the past 10 or 20 years. I know the resources are available, but I’ve also noticed no one has taken the time to piece them together to “Invent the Future” as Tech envisioned. Here’s my example: I’m a senior undergraduate in aerospace engineering with a math minor. I work full time with Campus Watch driving and dispatching for the Safe Ride Security Escort service, and was previously a student supervisor for dining services. Last year my senior design team won first place in a NASA Design
Competition worth $5,000. Creatively, I express myself writing and performing spoken word poetry in my hometown and around the New River Valley. I’ve won a few small competitions, headlined for various student programs, events and rallies on campus, and recently published a book of my own works titled “Above the Waves: A Poetic Journey Through Personal Revelation;” but still artists such as myself don’t have a consistent outlet to express our Virginia Tech experience or promote our extracurricular activities. Until I approached the Collegiate Times about sharing a poem I wrote about our recent presidential election, I doubt it would have reached anyone outside my circle. Now I’m writing biweekly for the CT. I don’t drink; I enjoy live music and raw talent and consider myself a student of the social and psychological sciences: And I am a Hokie! I know there are hordes of other multi-disciplined Hokies who have come through Blacksburg and left without a trace of their brilliance being displayed, and I’m tired of renting and watching my fellow Hokies starve! So, I challenge our administration to reciprocate on its promise of and commitment to the motto: Ut Prosim. Don’t let another marvel slip into forgotten-ness! To the students: Let your voices be heard. Prepare your legacy, build it, and let remembrance serve your faculty, graduates and resident students. Collaborate. Sing proudly across the Drillfield; play your guitars outside the dorms; dance and step from the Cage all the way to Thomas Hall. Create your outlets, and express yourselves openly until this university decides that there is more to learning than early lectures, research, homework and projects. This is our school — our education. Don’t just rent it. Own it.
365 Squires Student Center Blacksburg, Va. 24061 Fax: (540) 231-9151 opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com Students must include name, year, major and phone number. Faculty and staff must include name, position and department. All other submissions must include name, residence, and if applicable, relationship to Virginia Tech (i.e. alumni, parent, etc.). Letters should not exceed 300 words, and should be in MS Word (.doc) format if possible. Letters, commentaries and editorial cartoons do not reflect the views of the Collegiate Times. Editorials are written by the Collegiate Times editorial board. Letters to the editor are submissions from Collegiate Times readers. We reserve the right to edit for any reason. Anonymous letters will not be printed. To order a reprint of a photograph printed in the Collegiate Times, e-mail spps@vt.edu. Have a news tip? Call 231-9865 or e-mail: newstips@collegiatetimes.com Collegiate Times Phone Numbers News/Features 231-9865 Sports/Opinions 231-9870 Editor-in-Chief 231-9867 College Media Solutions Phone Number Advertising 961-9860 The Collegiate Times, a division of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, was established in 1903 by and for the students of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The Collegiate Times is published every Tuesday through Friday of the academic year except during exams and vacations. The Collegiate Times receives no funding from the university. The Collegiate Times can be found online at www.collegiatetimes.com. Except where noted, all photographs were taken by the Student Publications Photo Staff.The Collegiate Times is located in 365 Squires Student Center, Blacksburg, Va. 24061. (540) 231-9865. Fax (540) 231-9151. Subscription rates: $65 semester; $90 academic year; $105 full year. The first copy is free, any copy of the paper after that is 50 cents per issue. © Collegiate Times, 2009. All rights reserved. Material published in the Collegiate Times is the property thereof, and may not be reprinted without the express written consent of the Collegiate Times.
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editor: thomas emerick, brian wright email: sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: w 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.; t 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Nittany Lions. — Matt Collette
Women’s Tennis
DAVID GIVLER/THE HEIGHTS
Tech’s Malcolm Delaney and Terrance Vinson look up at the scoreboard in disbelief after the Hokies fall 67-66 to Boston College on Saturday night. from page four
Freshman Hasheem Halim finished off the day with an impressive showing in the triple jump. Halim had the third-longest mark, 50-01.75, 1.5 feet longer than his season best. Next weekend will mark the return of the Hokies to Blacksburg, where they will host the Virginia Tech Elite Meet in Rector Field House on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7. — Garrett Busic
Men’s Tennis This past weekend, the Virginia Tech men’s tennis team competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Kick-off Weekend in Columbus, Ohio. They would open their dualmatch action ranked No. 30 nationally. The Hokies would take on the No. 41 New Mexico Lobos to get things going. New Mexico would come into this weekend already 2-0. The Hokies would lose two of three doubles matches but rebounded by taking four of their six singles matches.
Ultimately, Tech would come back to a 4-3 overall victory. Of the matches the Hokies would drop against New Mexico, one turned out to be a major upset. The renowned doubles team of Nicolas Delgado de Robles and Luka Somen, ranked No. 20 in the country, would be taken down by the Lobos team of Miles Bugby and Johnny Parkes. The four players who would bounce the Hokies to victory against New Mexico were Patrick Daciek, Brandon Corace, Yoann Re and Somen. The team would advance to play No. 1 ranked Ohio State on Sunday. Sunday’s matches proved to be too much for the Hokies as they would fall to the Buckeyes, dropping their record to 1-1 on the young season. The Hokies would lose the match 5-2 overall. There was a silver lining in the defeat, though, as Re would pull off a big upset over No. 6 Justin Kronauge 6-2, 6-4. Corace also got in on the action as he pulled off the win against No. 77 Shuhei Uzawa. The Hokies will take their 1-1 record and try to add more wins on Feb. 7 when they travel to University Park, Pa., to take on the No. 44 Penn State
The Virginia Tech women’s tennis team traveled to Waco, Texas, this past weekend to participate in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Kick-off Weekend. The event took place at the Baylor University Tennis Center. The event kicked off with Virginia Tech, ranked No. 61 in the ITA national poll, against the University of Iowa, ranked No. 50 overall. The other first round match featured No. 62 Princeton against the host team Baylor University, ranked No. 4 overall. The Hokies had no trouble in their first round match-up against Iowa as they won 7-0. Tech started out by winning both of the doubles matches to secure the first point, then followed up the performance by capturing all six of the singles contests to claim the sweep over the Hawkeyes. Leading the charge for the Hokies was freshman Martha Blakely, who gave the Hokies a 2-0 lead by blanking her opponent 6-0, 6-0. Sophomore Yasmin Hamza and senior Jessica Brouwer followed the winning example by completing straight set victories as well in their respected singles matches. Senior Inga Beermann, ranked No. 125 nationally for the Hokies, had no trouble contributing to the Hokies’ sweep as she defeated her opponent 6-1, 6-3. By defeating Iowa in the first round, the Hokies would move on to play No. 4 overall Baylor University for the right to advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships hosted by the University of Wisconsin. The Hokies fell in the second round of play losing by a 4-1 decision. Tech opened up action against Baylor by losing both doubles matches by very close margins. The doubles teams of Beermann and Blakely as well as Brouwer and Holly Johnson both lost their matches with the score of 8-6. The lone point scored by the Hokies was credited to Hamza, who won her singles match by a count of 6-3, 6-3. Tech will return to the court on Feb. 8 when they travel to Columbus, Ohio, to face No. 32 Ohio State. — Matt Collette
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