Dec. 4, 2004
Lauren Sauer recorded 16 kills and hit .452 while Lynnette Moster posted 15 kills and hit .414 as the Georgia Tech volleyball upset No. 16 Santa Barbara in three games (30-24, 30-28, 30-21) in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 27-6 on the season and advance to the Minneapolis, Minn. Regional and will take on No. 4 Minnesota (30-4) Friday at 8 p.m. ET. The Gauchos conclude their season with a 24-4 record.
The victory for the Yellow Jackets marks the second consecutive year that Georgia Tech has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, and the win over the Gauchos was also the first ranked team that the Jackets had defeated this year. In addition, Moster recorded kill number 1,847 in the match, surpassing former standout Maja Pachale (1998-2001) to become the career kill leader at Georgia Tech.
“I am so proud of the team effort that we had today,” said head coach Bond Shymansky, who now has a 6-2 record in NCAA Tournament matches, “We knew coming into the match that it was going to take every person being committed to doing their job on the court, and that’s exactly what we got today. Laura Kuhn has done a tremendous job for us and she really came through for us at key points today. For her to have 10 kills in a three game match is a great night for her. I’m so proud of Lynnette and what she’s able to give against a team today that did everything they could to try and stop her. For her to have 15 kills and hit above .400 is just ridiculous. And then you combine that with Lauren who hit .450 on 16 kills just shows that our execution today was phenomenal. Momentum is such a huge thing in volleyball and we felt that even when we were behind in any of the games, the momentum was never really in question. The crowd was tremendous for us and I’m just really proud of what our team was able to do today.”
In the first game, the Gauchos opened the match with a 10-6 lead on several hitting errors by the Yellow Jackets. With the score 9-11, Tech scored seven straight points as Moster served two straight aces and Lauren Sauer pounded two kills to give the Jackets a 16-11 lead. UC Santa Barbara cut the score to 18-17 on kills from Megan Blackshire and Olivia Waldowski, but the Jackets responded with two kills from Moster and one from Ulrike Stegemann. Tech scored the final three points of the game on a service error by Mari Bell, a stuff block from Jayme Gergen and Lindsey Laband and a hitting error by Waldowski to win, 30-24.
Tech and Santa Barbara battled much of the second game until the score was tied at 7-7. A service error by Janine Sandell gave Tech a 8-7 lead and then Tech scored on a stuff block by Gergen and Laband and a kill down the line from Sauer to take a 10-7 lead. But the Gauchos came back and narrowed the deficit to 11-10 on a setter dump from Bell. The Jackets responded with kills from Laband and Moster and then two straight service aces from Jennifer Randall to take a 15-10 lead. The Jackets then led 28-25 on a cross court kill from Kuhn and then 29-26 when Sauer recorded one of her eight kills in the game. The Gauchos came back with a kill from Sandell and then scored on a hitting error by Sauer before Sauer responded with a kill of the hands of the Gaucho’s block to give Tech game two, 30-28.
In the final stanza of the match, the Jackets used a balanced offense to keep Santa Barbara off guard, as three players each recorded four kills in the game. With the score knotted at 11-11, tech took a three point lead with a kill from Kuhn, Gergen and a solo block from Sauer. The Gauchos cut the score to 15-13 on a attempt into the block by Sauer, but the Jackets went on a 15-8 scoring run to win the final game, 30-21.
Statistically, the Yellow Jackets hit .306 in the match while holding the Gauchos to a .179 percentage. In addition to Moster and Sauer, Laura Kuhn had 10 kills and hit .250 while Gergen added six kills and hit .294 and Ulrike Stegemann added five kills. Laband, the nation’s leader in assists per game, posted 43 assists in the win.
Defensively, Tech outdug the Gauchos by a 62 to 42 margin as Marisa Aston had a match-high 16 digs, Moster posted 15 and Randall added 11 while Abby Showers chipped in nine. At the net, Laband, Stegemann and Gergen each had three blocks while Sauer and Moster both combined for two.
The Gauchos were led by Sandell who had 14 kills while Blackshire and Waldowski each added 12. Kristen Nelson led the defense with 15 digs in the match.
