Aug. 24, 2007
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Talisa Kellogg posted a match-high 17 kills and Michelle Kandell recorded a career-high 17 digs as Georgia Tech (1-0) won its season-opening match, 3-1 (30-28, 26-30, 30-24, 30-27), against Pittsburgh (0-1) in the first match of the Arkansas Clarion Inn Invitational.
“It feels good to get a victory under our belt to open the season and begin the day, but we have a big match against Arkansas looming this evening,” Georgia Tech head coach Bond Shymansky said.
The tournament, which also features 2006 NCAA participants Arkansas and Pepperdine, is being played at Barnhill Arena on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The Jackets’ next match in the tournament will be against the host Lady Razorbacks this evening at 7 p.m. CT. Live stats and live video for this evening’s match will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com while a live radio broadcast can be found on 91.1 FM in Atlanta and online at www.wrek.org.
Joining Kellogg in double figures in the Jackets’ first match of the season was senior rightside hitter Ulrike Stegemann, who posted 13 kills and hit .333, while Lindsey Gray added nine kills for the Yellow Jackets.
“It’s great when your captain is able to lead your team to victory, and Talisa did a great job of hitting efficiently and playing smart this afternoon,” Shymansky said. “We were also pleased with Ulli’s contribution, as well as Michelle’s backrow passing.”
Pacing the Yellow Jackets’ defense at the net was senior Nikki Kaminskas, who had a match-high six total blocks, while Callie Miller added four block assists on the day. Jordan McCullers also had an impressive collegiate debut as she recorded 10 digs against the Panthers.
“It was good to watch our younger players get experience while providing them with direction and focus for the improvements they need to make to continue to be contributors to the starting lineup,” added Shymansky.
Stegemann, Gray and Kellogg all posted five kills and the Jackets held off a late Pittsburgh run to take the first game, 30-28. With Tech leading 26-19, the Panthers used a 5-0 run to narrow the Jackets’ lead to two, 26-24, and eventually pulled within one at 29-28, but a kill by Kellogg finished off the game for the Yellow Jackets.
Leading 8-7 in game two, the Panthers used a 7-2 run to extend their lead to 15-9 and held on to even the match with a 30-26 win in the frame. The Jackets hit just .167 in the game and had three blocking errors in addition to four reception errors, which resulted in seven points for Pittsburgh.
Kellogg hit .556 with five kills on six attempts and Chrissy DeMichelis provided a spark off the bench with three kills and a .429 hitting clip to guide the Yellow Jackets to a 30-24 win in the third game of the match.
“Today’s match was an experiment, with a lot of different players and systems, but you could see our team learn and our players begin to assert themselves as the match wore on,” Shymansky said.
DeMichelis paced the Jackets to a 30-27 win in the fourth and final game by recording five kills while Tech, as a team, hit .316 and had three service aces in the game. DeMichelis finished the match hitting .333 with eight kills and one block assist.
See Michelle Kandell’s take on the match by clicking HERE!
