Oct. 23, 2010
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech Volleyball team (14-8, 7-4 ACC) hit just .182 Saturday night as it fell to Maryland (15-8, 6-5), 3-0 (21-25, 18-25, 21-25), at O’Keefe Gym. The loss snaps the Yellow Jackets’ winning streak at seven matches as Maryland hit .333 for the evening, including .560 in the second set.
Sophomore Monique Mead led the Yellow Jackets with 13 kills, while junior Bailey Hunter added nine kills and five digs. Freshman Jennifer Percy had seven kills for Tech as it hit just .182 and had seven blocks. Senior Jordan McCullers led the way with 10 digs and classmate Mary Ashley Tippins dished out 32 assists. Sophomore Alexis Woodson had six total blocks for the Yellow Jackets, including two solo ones.
Georgia Tech raced out to a 9-4 lead in the first set, but it was all Maryland after that. The Terps went on a 9-3 run to take their first lead at 13-12. Tech came back with two straight but that would be its last lead of the set. Maryland went up three points before the Yellow Jackets came back to tie it at 21. After a timeout, the Terps reeled off the final four points to win 25-21. Georgia Tech hit just .138 in the opening set and was led by three kills from Hunter and Percy. Maryland hit .333.
Maryland continued its momentum in the second set as well as the Terps jumped out to a 9-3 lead. Tech tried to get back in the set and got within two points at 12-10, before Maryland stretched the lead back to 18-12 and forced another Yellow Jacket timeout. Tech never got any closer than four points the rest of the way and Maryland went on to a 25-18 win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. The Terps hit a blistering .560 in the second set and held Tech to .267. Mead had six kills to lead the Jackets.
In the third set Georgia Tech scored five of the first six points but Maryland came back with a 6-1 run to take a 7-6 lead. It was 10-8 Maryland when the Yellow Jackets went on a 5-0 run opening up a 13-10 advantage. The Terrapins once again came right back with five straight points to take a 15-13 lead. Tech answered and eventually tied the set at 17 but three straight Terp points gave them a 20-17 lead and they would never give it up again. The Jackets got as close as a point at 22-21, but Maryland scored the final three to win 25-21 and complete the sweep.
Georgia Tech concludes its season-long, five-match homestand in its final non-conference tilt as Middle Tennessee State visits O’Keefe Gym on Tuesday night. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. Live video, audio and stats are available for every home match at www.RamblinWreck.com. Each home match will also be broadcast on WREK, 91.1 FM in Atlanta.
