Sept. 18, 2001
Jacket Volleyball Drops Heartbreaker to Duke Despite a career high 22 kills and a season-high 17 digs from Amanda Hess, the Yellow Jacket volleyball team dropped its conference opener to Duke in five games, 30-27, 19-30, 30-27, 24-30, 14-16 on Tuesday night. With the win, Duke improves to 9-0, 1-0 ACC while Tech falls to 4-3, 0-1 ACC.
In game one, Duke jumped out to a 13-8 lead with several kills from Ashley Harris and Dorrette Burrell. But, Tech climbed back to tie the score at 16-16 behind the serving of Lynnette Moster and kills from Hess and Kyleen Bell. Tech took its first lead of the game on a stuff block from Preiss and Lauren Sauer to make the score 22-21. The Jackets would go on to grab game one, 30-27, with solid blocking from Bell and Kele Eveland and kills from Maja Pachale and Hess.
Bad passing was the culprit of game two, forcing the Jackets to have difficulty with their offense. The Blue Devils took a 14-9 lead on a ball handling error from Eveland. Tech fought back to make the score 15-16 on a kill from Bell, but Duke rallied to take the game 30-19 on kills from Krista Dill and Burrell.
Tech came back in game three and took an early 6-2 on a kill and a solo block from Pachale. Duke fought back to tie the game at 10-10 after a service error from Lynnette Moster and a net violation from Eveland. The Jackets then took a 16-14 lead on a stuff block from Preiss and Pachale, but Duke kept the game close on a kill from Burrell, making the score 20-19. The Jackets then got kills from Pachale and Bell, followed by a hitting error from Ashley Harris to take a 24-20 lead. Tech never looked back at that point, putting away the game with kills from Hess and a block by Dori Pap and Preiss, to capture game three, 30-27.
Game four was close throughout, as there were 11 ties, and neither team held more then a four point lead. Tech led 16-13, only to see the Blue Devils score on a service ace and kills from Burrell and Arielle Linderman. Duke its first lead in the game, 17-16 on a hitting error from Hess, and then increased its lead to 24-21 on kills from Harris and an ace from Linderman. A kill from Rachel Vander Griend made Duke lead 29-24, and they would go on to win game four by the score of 30-24.
The Jackets took a commanding 11-6 lead in game five, and it looked as though they would capture the match as Bell recorded four kills and the Jackets received a stuff block from Priess and Pachale. However, Duke came back behind the serving of Jill Sonne, scoring four straight points. Tech sided-out to make the score 12-9, but then Duke scored on a service error from Moster and a kill from Burrell to make it 12-11. The Blue Devils took their first lead, 14-13 on a hitting error from Eveland, and went on to win the game and the match, 16-14.
Tech will return to action on Saturday night when it faces Florida State in O’Keefe Gym at 7 p.m.
