Sept. 17, 2010
CLEMSON, S.C. – Sophomore Monique Mead had a double-double with 20 kills and 15 digs but the Clemson University Volleyball team (8-2, 1-0 ACC) battled back from a 2-1 deficit to beat Georgia Tech (5-5, 0-1), 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 16-25, 25-16, 15-13), in the ACC opener Friday night at Jervey Gym. This marked the fifth straight time Tech and Clemson battled through five sets.
Mead tallied her second straight double-double and recorded her fourth match of at least 20 kills this season. She also added five total blocks. Senior Mary Ashley Tippins posted her sixth double-double of the season as she added 49 assists and 15 digs. Freshman Jennifer Percy turned in her second straight career night as she had 13 kills and five digs, while junior Bailey Hunter added 12 kills. Junior Asia Stawicka had eight kills and nine total blocks for the Yellow Jackets and senior Jordan McCullers had 14 digs and sophomore Susan Carlson added nine as well.
Georgia Tech hit .214 for the match compared to Clemson’s .191 clip and each team had 11 blocks.
The first set was filled with runs as each time the Yellow Jackets built up a three-point lead, Clemson came back to tie it. That happened on four separate occasions, but Tech never let the Tigers take the lead. It was a 12-12 score when the Jackets went on a 7-2 run to take their largest lead of the set at 19-14 and Clemson was never able to recover as Tech went on to the 25-21 win. Mead and Hunter led the Jackets with nine combined kills as they hit .216 as a team.
An 8-0 run by Clemson in the second set proved too much for the Yellow Jackets to overcome as they fell, 25-19. It was 5-5 before the spurt by the Tigers had Tech down 13-5. It was soon 18-8, but the Yellow Jackets did not go down without a fight. The Jackets scored seven of the next nine points to make it a 20-15 score, but that would be as close as they would get. Mead led the Jackets with four kills, but they hit just .133. Clemson, meanwhile, hit .270 and used four total blocks to even the match at one set apiece.
In the third set, it was Georgia Tech’s turn for a big run as the Jackets used a 10-3 spurt to open up a 17-10 lead. Clemson was never able to get back in it as Tech maintained the lead and went on to win 25-16 and take a 2-1 lead for the match. Tech hit .406 in the third set and was led by five Mead kills.
The see-saw affair continued as Clemson led from the get go and won 25-16 sending the match to a fifth set. The Tigers quickly jumped out to a 13-6 lead and the Jackets could never get their deficit under five points the rest of the way. Tech hit just .167 in the fourth set while Clemson hit .304, its best set of the match thus far.
The Yellow Jackets led for much of the fifth set but Clemson scored five of the final six points to pull out a 15-13 win and come from behind to win the match 3-2. Tech held several two point leads in the final set only to see Clemson come back from a 12-10 deficit to win.
The Clemson Classic continues tomorrow as the Yellow Jackets will play matches against Florida A&M at 10 a.m. and then Georgia State at 4 p.m. Follow all of the action with live stats at RamblinWreck.com.
