Nov. 2, 2012
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Georgia Tech volleyball team fell for the first time since 2007 to the Virginia Cavaliers, 3-2 (28-26, 21-25, 25-22, 21-25, 11-15), on Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium. With the loss, the Yellow Jackets fall to 16-9 overall and 7-7 in league play, while the Cavaliers improve to 8-17 on the season and 2-12 in ACC action.
Monique Mead led all players with 22 kills and added 10 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. Annie Czarnecki led the team with a .619 hitting percentage, connecting on 13 of 21 swings with no errors.
Mead’s two service aces on the night move her to ninth place (50) in Tech’s single-season records and fifth (144) in the career record books. In addition, she needs just 36 kills to move into first place on the GT all-time career list.
Kaleigh Colson is slowly climbing in the career assist records. The junior currently has 1,767 helpers for ninth in the category at Tech.
Set one was a grind that featured 11 tied scores and three lead changes. The Yellow Jackets would come from behind to claim frame one, 28-26.
The Yellow Jackets led UVA by two points, 9-7, in game one until the Cavaliers rallied for five straight points on a 7-1 run to take a 14-10 lead. Georgia Tech went to work and countered with a 5-0 series capped off with a service ace by Mead to tie the game, 16-16.
The Cavaliers were able to take a two-point advantage and hold on to it until Tech knotted the score again, 23-23. From there, the Jackets were poised to win the opening frame three times and were able to close it out on the fourth set point courtesy of a Czarnecki kill.
UVA led for almost the entire first half of game two. Tech managed to knot the 14-14 and five additional times after that, but the Cavaliers took a small lead and clung to it, winning 25-21.
Tech took a 3-2 lead in game three and eventually expanded its advantage 17-12 on another service ace by Mead to go along with a 4-0 run. The Cavaliers would close the gap, 24-22, but Tech put the set away on a kill by Jennifer Percy.
After a back and forth battle in game four, the Cavaliers pushed ahead, 16-11, on four-straight scores. Tech pulled within one point, 18-17, but Virginia managed to put more space between the two teams, 21-17, and force a final fifth set.
The Jackets developed an 8-6 lead at the switch in game five. The Cavaliers proved resilient, tying the game, 8-8, and taking an 11-9 lead. UVA took the fifth set, 15-11, and the match, 3-2.
The Yellow Jackets wrap up their four-match road swing with a 6 p.m. contest at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
