ATLANTA – Despite falling behind two games to one, the Georgia Tech volleyball team rallied to defeat Duke in five games, 13-15, 15-10, 6-15, 15-8, 15-10 on Saturday night, October 21 in front of 1,470 fans. With the win, Georgia Tech earns their 10th consecutive victory and improves to 19-4, 9-1 ACC on the season while Duke falls to 15-9, 4-6 ACC.
It was a game of streaks as throughout the match, both teams would score strings of points in a row.
In game one, Duke jumped out to an early 11-1 lead as their offense was strong and Tech’s passing struggled. Behind the serving of Kele Eveland, the Jackets got back to within 8-11. Duke rallied back to increase its lead to 14-10 and eventually took game one, 15-13.
In game two, Tech recorded 27 kills and outhit the Blue Devils, .339 to .217 to win the game, 15-10.
The Blue Devils dominated game three as they hit .325 and held the Jackets to a dismal .068. Despite leading 5-2, the Jackets fell behind 6-12 and were never able to get back in the game, and eventually lost, 6-15.
In game four the Jackets were down 1-7 before Eveland scored eight straight points for the Jackets on five straight kills from Teryl Townsend, to take the lead 8-7. With Tech leading 10-8, Eida Mabry served the final five points of the game.
In game five, the two teams sidedout seven straight times before Tech took the lead, 10-6. Duke stormed back to score four points to tie the game at 10-10, but Amanda Hess served the final five points for the Jackets.
Mabry led the Jackets as she posted 18 kills on 33 swings, while Townsend recorded 16 kills on 31 attempts and 11 digs. Eveland posted 51 assists, 11 kills and three block assists in the match.
Duke was led by Dorrette Burwell who tallied 18 kills and 14 digs, while freshman Krista Dill added 15 kills and five block assists.
Georgia Tech will travel to Clemson, SC, to take on the Clemson Tigers (9-13, 5-6) at 7 p.m. on Friday.
