Oct. 16, 2011
MIAMI – The Georgia Tech volleyball team closed out its weekend road trip with a dominating victory over No. 23 Miami, thanks in part to a triple-double by Kaleigh Colson, the first triple-double by a Tech player since Allie Niekamp on September 1, 2006 against Mississippi State. The win marked the 50th in Tonya Johnson’s tenure at Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets (11-8, 4-5 ACC) and the Hurricanes (15-3, 6-3) battled back-and-forth the entire match. After a rough first set, Tech closed out each match with a flourish, ending the game with three-straight blocks by Monique Mead and Quinn Evans.
Mead registered 19 kills on the day while Colsons triple-double was comprised of 34 assists, 12 kills (12-of-15, .800) and 11 digs. Also shining on the day was Evans who finished the match with nine kills and four blocks.
Miami was led by Lane Carico who ended the match with 14 kills and seven digs.
The Jackets fell behind early in the first set and just didn’t have enough to overcome the deficit as everything was falling for the Hurricanes. The Miami offense was very spread out and seven different players registered a kill in the first set alone en route to the 25-11 victory. Tech was led by Mead and Evans who netted four and three kills respectively.
Set two was a game of streaks and the Jackets came out on top. Miami came out to a 4-0 lead but the Jackets rallied back and brought it within one. Miami pushed to a 10-7 lead but Tech tied things up once again. After some back and forth action and a 19-16 Miami lead, the Jackets rallied off five-straight points behind the service of Kaleigh Colson which was enough to get them the 25-22 set two victory. Both Mead and Colson added five kills to their totals while Ivona Kolak netted four and Evans tallied another three in the second set win.
The serving of Susan Carlson was the highlight of set three as the junior helped tally eight of the Jackets 25 points, registering two service aces in the 25-20 win. Mead continued to pile on the kills adding another five in the set while Colson racked up four and Evans had another three. Carlson was the epitome of consistency in the back row as she dug four balls in the set while Nicki Meyer put up seven from the libero position.
Just like the rest of the match, set four was back-and-forth between the two teams. The aggressive net play of Alexis Woodson helped to put the Jackets on top as she won every joust that she went up for. Woodson set the tone as Mead and Evans used their blocking prowess to reject three-straight Miami attempts for the victory.
Tech will continue on the road next weekend when they head to Virginia for a couple of road games. The Jackets will take on Virginia Tech on Friday night at 7 p.m. followed by a Saturday night meeting with the Cavaliers at the same time.
