Sept. 18, 2010
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CLEMSON, S.C. – The Georgia Tech Volleyball team (6-5) used a balanced scoring attack and blocking game to beat Florida A&M (0-8), 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-10), Saturday morning at the Clemson Classic. The Yellow Jackets hit .434 for the match and had 14 blocks in just three sets.
“We did a nice job of bouncing back from last night’s tough loss and setting the tone early on this morning,” said head coach Tonya Johnson. “It was a solid team effort today, especially in the blocking game. A lot of people made contributions. Now, we need to focus on a good Georgia State team this afternoon.”
Sophomore Monique Mead led the way with 12 kills, eight block assists and six digs for Tech, while junior Asia Stawicka had eight kills, on .889 hitting, and seven total blocks. Junior Bailey Hunter and sophomore Alexis Woodson each had seven kills as well for Tech. Woodson hit .417 and had seven block assists. Senior Mary Ashley Tippins led the squad with 33 assists, while classmate Jordan McCullers led the way with 13 digs. Freshman Kaleigh Colson made her collegiate debut and had an assist for the Yellow Jackets.
In the first set, Georgia Tech raced out to a 12-4 lead and never looked back en route to a 25-18 win. Florida A&M briefly cut its deficit down to five points, but the Jackets never let the Rattlers get any closer than that. Tech hit .476 for the set and was led by four kills from Mead. The Yellow Jackets had four blocks in the set as well.
The Yellow Jackets took the second set as well, 25-18, as they led from start to finish. Tech jumped out to a 5-1 lead and that’s where its advantage stayed for much of the set until a late run gave it an eight-point lead. After Florida A&M cut the Jackets’ lead to three points at 17-14, Tech went on a 7-2 run to put the set away and go up 2-0 in the match. The Yellow Jackets hit .424 in the set and were led by Mead and Stawicka with nine combined kills. Tech also had five more blocks in the set.
Florida A&M enjoyed its only lead of the match in set three as it held a 2-1 advantage but it was all Tech after that as the Jackets used a 16-3 run to take control and roll to a 25-10 win and sweep the match.
Georgia Tech closes out the Clemson Classic with a 4 p.m. match this afternoon against Georgia State. Follow all of the action with live stats at www.RamblinWreck.com. Tech then returns home as ACC play picks up inn earnest next weekend. The Jackets host Duke on Friday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. and then Wake Forest on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 1 p.m.
