The Omicron Effect on Virginia Tech’s Winter Athletics Programs

After a riddled 2020-21 season for Virginia Tech Athletics, the last thing these programs want to do is go through scheduling difficulty in 2021-22.

But unfortunately, the COVID-19 bug has bitten three of Virginia Tech’s most dominating programs during crucial moments of their seasons.

Despite the struggles that three winter programs went through during the midst of the pandemic, they performed above their expectations and made ground-breaking strides.

In his second season as the men’s basketball head coach, Mike Young led the Hokies to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his tenure and the school’s fourth appearance in five years.

From the women’s basketball program, Kenny Brooks broke the 14-year program drought and prevailed to the NCAA Tournament. Their team was successful in Waco, Texas after beating Marquette in the first round before losing to the eventual River Walk Regional runners-up Baylor.

For Tony Robie and the wrestling program, it was a perfect regular season with a 9-0 record and a second-place finish in the ACC Championships. It’s also worth noting that the Hokies once again had multiple wrestlers receive All-American honors with Korbin Myers, Sam Latona and Hunter Bolen all receiving the recognition. 

It hasn’t been all sunshine and flowers for these same programs this time around.

Right at the start of conference play for the men’s basketball program, the Hokies were hit with a minor COVID-19 outbreak in their team.

The result was that a date at North Carolina on Dec. 29, 2021, and a home game against Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day were postponed indefinitely. 

The good news for Mike Young’s side was that both contests were rescheduled, but it brought up major complications to their schedule. From Jan. 22 through Jan. 26, the Hokies had to play three games in five days, which included road trips to Chestnut Hill, Mass. and Chapel Hill, N.C.

With the quick turnarounds on the schedule, the Hokies looked exhausted at times and dropped all three games, spiraling their season to a 10-10 overall record.

Another odd stretch of their schedule came recently as the Hokies and Panthers played a rare home-and-home series over the span of three days, but the experience in these situations helped Mike Young and Co. sweep the Panthers and are enjoying a four-game winning streak. 

“It’s exhausting,” Young said. “I’m very proud of them, a lot more to look forward to. We’ve got seven left, four at home, three on the road, so day by day, let’s win the next practice.”

For Virginia Tech’s other team on the hardwood, the women’s basketball program is going through their own struggles of conference play scheduling.

The bright spot of Kenny Brooks’ team is that there have been no games of their schedule postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak on their own team, but that didn’t mean they were able to avoid the consequences.

With a Commonwealth Clash lined up in Blacksburg, the Cavaliers was unable to participate on the original date and the matchup was postponed to Jan. 18, meaning that the Hokies had to play three games in six days.

There have been plenty of moments this year where the women’s program has had their battles of adversity, including four games in eight days which sees two ranked teams come to Cassell Coliseum.

“I think everybody at this time of year has fatigue and not only from a physical standpoint,” Brooks said. “During this stretch, you know it's going to be that way, but I think everyone is a little tired right now.”

One of the most heartbreaking news that wrestling fans heard on Jan. 20 was the highly anticipated dual meet between the N.C. State Wolfpack and the Hokies was called off due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Hokies’ program.

Per ACC forfeit policy, since the Hokies were unable to compete in the dual meet, the victory will be awarded to the Wolfpack in a 1-0 result.

Coming into the new season, the expectation was that these two programs would be battling it out for the top spot in the conference, but that dream seems all but lost for the Hokies.

Fortunately for wrestling fans, the two sides did come together and agree to a non-conference dual meet which will take place in Raleigh, N.C. on Jan. 20.

But like the other winter programs, this will mean two meets in three days as the Hokies will have a date with their Commonwealth Clash foe, Virginia, in Charlottesville on Feb. 18.

As there looks to be better days ahead of us with the Omicron variant dying down, hopefully the spring sports programs do not have to face similar trials that the winter programs did, but the effect of what these teams faced may have a lasting impact on their seasons.