Oct. 4, 2013
THE FLATS – Senior Quinn Evans notched a career-high 13 kills as the Georgia Tech volleyball team (7-8, 1-2 ACC) upset the 18th-ranked Florida State Seminoles (9-5, 2-1) in four sets (20-25, 26-24, 25-17, 25-22) Friday.
It marks the first Georgia Tech win against a ranked-opponent since a 3-2 victory on Nov. 8, 2012 at home against No. 22 North Carolina. It’s the highest-ranked team the Jackets defeated since beating No. 17 Florida State, 3-2, on its home court on Oct. 2, 2009.
“This win is a positive for this team,” head coach Tonya Johnson said. “We’ve been through some things, in regards to injuries, and we’ve been trying to find the right lineup and the right combination. I thought our kids responded well tonight.
“I thought we played hard and we were tough when we needed to be. We were poised when we needed to be. Things just went our way and I thought our kids responded very, very well. It was a nice win and it showed character for my team today.”
The Jackets picked up their first ACC win of the season and handed the Seminoles their first conference loss this year, holding Florida State to a .179 hitting percentage.
Set one was a back-and-forth battle until the Seminoles took the lead for good, 12-11, on a kill by Nicole Walch. Tech’s Chanell Clark-Bibbs led all players on the court with five kills in the set, but six serving errors proved costly and the Seminoles won, 25-20.
Georgia Tech held FSU to a .000 hitting clip in game two. The two teams fought for the lead throughout the game. Down by one, 20-19, the Jackets rallied for three points to go up 22-20 and tacked on two more for set point, 24-21. Florida State came back and tied it 24-24, when two FSU errors gave Georgia Tech the set, 26-24.
The Jackets put that momentum to use and jumped out to a 9-2 lead in set three thanks to the serving of Chanell Clark-Bibbs and the digging of Teegan Van Gunst, which kept the offense in system. Georgia Tech never looked back, taking the set 25-17.
The fourth frame was a nail-biter, featuring 12 tied scores and six lead changes. The Jackets took the lead at 17-16 on a Florida State serving error. Tech held on to the lead for the remainder of the set and capped off the match with a kill from Courtney Felinski.
The Jackets are back in action Saturday against Miami. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at O’Keefe Gym.
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