Wednesday, March 20, 2002
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com

The Virginia Tech ticket office mailed out season ticket order forms last week, and most season ticket holders have received theirs in the mail. This year's package includes:

• A 16-page, glossy color booklet with photos from the past, a brief 2002 preview, South end zone seating information, a center spread that features photos of next season's top returning players and a 2002 schedule, Hokie Club info, parking info, and a list of ISP radio affiliates (click the picture to the left below to see a large version of the booklet's cover).
• A schedule card featuring a Kevin Jones picture (click the picture to the right below to see a large version of the Jones schedule card); there is also a Willie Pile schedule card version.
• An ordering guide, with important dates, policies, and parking information.
• The season ticket order form.

Season Ticket Info Booklet (click to enlarge)	2002 Schedule Card (KJ version) (click to enlarge)

Click here to see the 2002 schedule.

Season tickets this year are $252 and include tickets to the preseason game against Arkansas State, for a total of 8 home games. That's $31.50 per game per ticket, an increase of $3.50 per game over last year's $28.00 per-ticket cost. Arkansas State is $35; all other games are $31.

Individual game tickets are not available for UVa, WVU, LSU and Marshall -- they must be purchased as part of the season ticket package. With 11,000 new seats in the South end zone, you might wonder if season ticket sales, student ticket pickup, and visitor ticket sales will be enough to fill the stadium, thus leaving no tickets for individual game sales for those matchups later this fall. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, individual tickets can be purchased for Arkansas State, Rutgers, Temple, and Pitt. Rutgers and Temple have Youth Ticket options available for $15.

A season parking pass is $30, which is $5 more than last year's season parking pass, which was for a six-game schedule.

Here are the important dates for ticket ordering:

• March 17: Season ticket renewals and new season ticket sales begin.
• May 1: Season ticket and parking deadline for priority consideration.
• July 1: Individual game sales begin for the general public, if available (ASU, Rutgers, Temple and Pitt only).

For Hokie Club members, the May 1 date is the key. You need to get your order form in by then to be guaranteed a parking pass and seating location that matches your Hokie Club level.

Season ticket sales increased annually from 10,506 in 1993 to 29,440 in 2000 (a sellout, with over 35,000 applications received). Season ticket sales figures for 2001 were never published and were not included in the 2001 football media guide, leading one to believe that the Hokies did not sell more season tickets in 2001 than they did in 2000, the first time season ticket sales have not risen in the Beamer bowl era (1993-present).

In all fairness, the demolition of the South end zone bleachers prior to the 2001 season reduced capacity of the stadium by several thousand seats, and that may have led to a lower season ticket sales total. Whatever the reason, VT officials were not crowing about season ticket sales for 2001 as they had been in prior years, saying only at one point that they sold out, without giving a total figure.

The order form also allows you to purchase hokiesports.com the newspaper, as well as a VT football media guide, referred to as a "Maroon Book" on the order form. For just $10, the Maroon Book, which was over 300 pages last year, is a steal.

For more information and to order on-line, visit hokietickets.com. Hokie Club information can be obtained at hokieclub.com.

Hokies, Catamounts Ready for WNIT Clash

It's VT versus VT tonight at Cassell Coliseum, where the Hokie women's basketball team will meet the Vermont Catamounts in the quarterfinals (final 8) of the WNIT.

Vermont is out of the America East Conference and is 23-8 on the season. Their coach, Keith Cieplicki, is a 1985 William and Mary graduate who played for the W&M team that lost to Tech in the first round of the 1983 NIT, 85-79 in Blacksburg. He jokingly told Vermont's radio announcers at the end of their previous game, a second-round home victory over St. Joseph's, that he is looking for "20 years of revenge" in his return to Cassell Coliseum.

Vermont outdrew the Hokies in round 2, selling out their 3,288-seat gym, as compared to the 2,281 fans who showed up for Tech's win over GW. But the Hokies outbid Vermont, offering the WNIT more money to host the game, so the home game was awarded to Tech.

The Catamounts are led by 6-0 sophomore center Aaron Yantzi (14.0 ppg., 5.1 rpg.) and 6-1 junior forward Morgan Hall (12.2, 5.6). All five Catamount starters average over 5 rebounds per game, and oddly enough, they're led in that department by 5-9 senior guard Libby Smith (6.4 rpg.).

A key for the Hokies will be to capitalize on their size advantage inside, where they bring 6-4 Ieva Kublina, 6-2 Erin Gibson, and 6-1 Nicole Jones up against Vermont, who doesn't have a starter over 6-1. But at the guard position, the Catamounts are taller than the Hokies (Vermont's guards are 6-0 and 5-9, versus 5-8 and 5-7 for the Hokies).

It will be an interesting game, and no one in the Hokie program is taking Vermont, who has an impressive RPI rating of 47, lightly.

Game tickets are $8 for adults, $4 for children and students, and the game starts at 7 pm.

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