Dec. 6, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GEORGIA TECH SPORTS INFORMATION DECEMBER 6, 2002
All-American candidate Lynnette Moster recorded 24 kills and four services as the No. 17 Georgia Tech volleyball team fell to No. 10 Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in four games, 28-30, 29-31, 30-26, 28-30. With the loss, the Yellow Jackets’ season concludes with a 33-6 record while Minnesota advances to the Sweet 16 with a 32-5 record.
“That was a great team that we played tonight,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “I thought it was an emotional loss for us, but an emotional win for them. We said yesterday that we were excited to play Minnesota in this type of building and they showed why they were Big 10 Champions tonight. We had our hands full in the match with their offensive weapons. I thought our team executed 95% of the time in this match, and the other 5% led the the difference in the match. We’re a young team and sometimes you make mistakes but I was very proud of our passion tonight. I thought that we gave it all that we had, made some key adjustments, but just came up short in the end. I told every one of our players after the match that this has been an incredible season, one that we never thought would happen, and that with every player returning next year, we have nothing but a bright future ahead of us.”
The match was even as Georgia Tech hit .243 in the match while Minnesota hit .244. Defensively, the Gophers dominated, recording 78 digs to Tech’s 60.
In addition to Moster, Lauren Sauer was phenomenal, recording 18 kills and hitting .385 in the match. Jayme Gergen recorded six block assists and Marisa Aston notched a team-high 18 digs.
For Minnesota, the outside hitting tandem of Trisha Bratford and Erin Martin were tough for Tech to handle as Bratford recorded 26 kills and Martin had 16. Paula Gentil led the Gophers with 23 digs while Lisa Axel had 14.
In the first game, the Jackets’ passing struggled allowing the Gophers to jump out to a 11-18 lead on several service aces and overpasses by Tech. But, Tech climbed back into the game with kills from Kuhn, Sauer, Moster and a block from Sauer and Preiss to make the score 17-21. With the score 21-26, Moster tallied a down the line kill and then went back to serve three service aces closing the score to 25-26. Two kills from Sauer and a block from Eveland and Gergen evened the score at 28-28, but the Gophers would score the final two points on a service error from Jennifer Randall and a hitting error from Sauer. In the game, Moster recorded five kills and three service aces while Sauer notched four kills and hit .375. Keight Vincent tallied five digs and Jayme Gergen and Kele Eveland each had two block assists.
The Jackets fell behind in the second game, 5-9 on two straight reception errors, but fought back to make the score 11-12 on a kill from Preiss and Moster and several Gopher errors. Tech tied the game at 19-19 on a hitting error from Trisha Bratford and then took the lead, 29-27 on two straight kills from Moster. A serving error from Preiss and two straight kills from Bratford made the score 29-30 and Tech would go on to lose the game on a hitting error from Moster. In the game, Moster and Sauer each tallied seven kills while Randall and Eveland each had a service ace.
Tech regrouped and jumped out to a 15-6 lead with kills from Sauer and a block from Sauer and Preiss combined with several unforced Gopher hitting errors. But, Minnesota climbed back to tie the score at 18-18 on hitting errors by the Jackets and two ballhandling errors from Eveland. The game went back and forth until the score was 24-24 when Gergen and Sauer combined for a stuff block, Erin Martin recorded a hitting error and Eveland dumped the ball on a dig from Randall. Tied took the lead for good at 25-24 and went on to win the game 30-26 on another kill from Eveland and two kills from Sauer. In the game, Sauer recorded five kills while Marisa Aston notched seven digs.
The game was close througout in game four, with neither team holding more than a two point advantage. With the game tied at 20-20, the Jackets took a slim 25-22 lead on three blocks from Gergen and kills from Preiss and Moster. But, the Gophers fought back and tied the game at 27-27 with a kill from Cassie Busse. Three straight kills from Bratford gave the Gophers the deciding game, 30-28. This concludes the 2002 season for Georgia Tech as the Atlantic Coast Conference champions enjoyed the most successful season in history, with a school record 33 wins and ending the year with a .846 winning percentage.
