Nov. 16, 2007
ATLANTA – Nikki Kaminskas notched a career-high 15 kills, and Chrissy DeMichelis added a team-best 16 to guide Georgia Tech to a 3-1 (30-15, 30-17, 28-30, 30-18) win over Miami Friday night at O’Keefe Gym. The victory was the Jackets’ 20th of the season, as they improved to 20-9 and 14-5 in the ACC, while Miami dropped to 12-17 and 6-14 in the league.
The win marks the fifth time that the Jackets have eclipsed 20 wins in a season under sixth-year head coach Bond Shymansky.
Kaminskas hit a match-best .700, with 15 kills and just one error on 20 attempts. She also added one solo block in addition to seven block assists against the Hurricanes. DeMichelis tallied 16 kills and four block assists on the night.
Talisa Kellogg and Ulrike Stegemann joined Kaminskas and DeMichelis with double figures in kills, posting 14 and 12, respectively. Stegemann recorded five of her 12 in the final game, as she converted on all but two of her attempts with no errors in the frame. The Yellow Jacket senior also recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 11 digs against the Hurricanes.
Junior libero Michelle Kandell again led Tech’s back row defense, with 15 digs to push her season-record total to 553, while Jordan McCullers added 10 digs on the night.
Erin Birmingham notched five block assists in her fifth start of the season, while Allie Niekamp ran Georgia Tech’s offense with 49 assists in addition to recording four block assists, two service aces and two kills.
The Jackets used a 7-1 run, which included a kill and block assist by Kellogg and a kill and service ace from Kaminskas, to take a 14-7 lead in game one before closing out the frame on a 9-1 run to win, 30-15. Tech hit .462 and received four kills from Kellogg and Ulrike Stegemann while Kaminskas had five kills on five attempts to lead the Jackets.
Tech finished off the second game by scoring 10 unanswered points to win, 30-18, and take a 2-0 match lead. There were a total of 11 ties and six lead changes before the Jackets took the lead for good at 15-14 on a service error by the Hurricane’s Angelica Ellis. Kaminskas and Kellogg tallied four kills apiece in the game while the Hurricanes had nine kills and nine attack errors.
After falling behind 15-8 in game three the Hurricanes’ offense began to click, as Miami went on a 7-2 run to pull within one point before finally tying the match at 22-22 on a kill by Katie Gallagher. The score was still knotted at 28-28 when Tech committed back-to-back attacking errors to give the Hurricanes the 30-28 game three win.
The Yellow Jackets finished off the match with a 30-18 game four win by using a late 7-0 run to put the game out of hand. With the score tied 12-12, Tech scored 14 of the next 16 points, four of which came off kills by Stegemann, to take a 26-14 lead before cruising to the 12-point game win.
Tech hosts Florida State Saturday at 7 p.m. in its final home match of 2007. The match will begin following a brief presentation honoring the Yellow Jackets’ three seniors who will be playing in the final home match of their careers. Fans unable to attend the match may listen to WREK Radio, as Kurt Hoyt calls the action for all Georgia Tech home volleyball matches. Live stats will be available at RamblinWreck.com.
