Oct. 13, 2012
DURHAM, N.C. – The Georgia Tech volleyball team fell in five sets (25-20, 15-25, 16-25, 25-13, 13-15), to Duke on Saturday night. The Yellow Jackets are now 14-5 on the season and 6-3 in conference play, while Duke improves to 11-9 overall and 2-6 in ACC action.
Monique Mead led the Yellow Jackets with 17 kills and Bailey Hunter added 13 kills of her own. Nicki Meyer led the back row with 17 digs and Chanell Clark-Bibbs tallied a team-best six blocks on the night.
“We showed a lot of character tonight and battled to the very end,” head coach Tonya Johnson said. “We certainly could have been a lot better in sets two and three to put ourselves in a better situation. We left a lot of points on the floor tonight, and you can’t do that and be successful in rally scoring.”
Georgia Tech trailed at the beginning of the first game until three straight points scored on a tip from Kaleigh Colson, a service ace by Zoey Morton and a block by Colson and Clark-Bibbs turned the tide, giving Tech a 9-8 lead. The Yellow Jackets were full steam ahead, never losing the lead and winning the first frame 25-20.
Game two started the same way as Duke jumped out to a 4-1 advantage. The Blue Devils increased their lead to 8-3 to force a GT timeout, and kept its momentum with a huge block after the timeout. The Yellow Jackets were unable to get within four points of the Blue Devils as they won 25-15.
It was nip-and-tuck in the third game, but Duke took a definitive 7-5 lead on a kill and a Tech attacking error. Georgia Tech called a timeout after Duke increased the score to 12-7. The Blue Devils followed that with a 6-2 run and capped off game three with back-to-back kills.
The Yellow Jackets started off the fourth game with newfound momentum. Tech enjoyed a 13-3 rally to go up 14-6, and two kills and a service ace by Mead made it 17-7. Mead had five kills and hit .571 in game four to lead the Yellow Jackets. Tech went through three set points before another kill by Mead closed out the game, 25-13.
The fifth stanza was a back-and-forth battle with Duke leading 8-7 at the switch. From that point, Duke went on a 5-3 run to take a 13-10 lead. Tech scored three unanswered points to come within one, 14-13, but Duke prevailed.
Georgia Tech is back in action with a midweek match at Georgia on Tuesday. First serve against the Bulldogs is set for 7 p.m. at the Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga.
