Nov. 23, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Jade Brown led five Terrapins in double figures in kills as Maryland (18-13, 10-12 ACC) halted Georgia Tech’s winning streak at seven with a 3-2 (23-30, 30-25, 30-19, 29-31, 15-9) victory over the Yellow Jackets Friday afternoon at the Comcast Center Pavilion. With the loss, the Yellow Jackets fell to 22-10 on the season and 16-6 in the ACC.
Brown notched 20 kills and libero Maggie Schmelzle posted a match-high 32 digs to lead the Terps to their season-ending victory.
Talisa Kellogg tallied a season-high 25 kills to lead four Yellow Jackets in double-figures on the afternoon. She hit .281 and also notched a pair of block assists on the day. Michelle Kandell led the Jackets’ back row defense with 30 digs against the Terrapins while Jordan McCullers posted 14 digs.
Both Allie Niekamp and Lindsey Gray recorded double-doubles in the loss. Niekamp had 57 assists in addition to 15 digs while Gray posted 11 kills and 13 digs.
Nikki Kaminskas led Tech’s blocking efforts with four block assists.
Georgia Tech opened the match on a 9-1 run and closed the first game by winning six of the last seven points to win the opening frame, 30-23. Chrissy DeMichelis notched a game-high five kills while Stegemann knocked down four and hit .333 for the Yellow Jackets.
The Terps evened the match at 1-1 with a 30-25 game two victory. Brown and freshman Michelle Kenning tallied five kills apiece as the Terrapins hit .311 with 18 kills and just four errors on 45 attempts, while Tech managed just a .204 hitting clip.
Leading by four points midway through the third game, Maryland used a 5-1 run to take a 20-12 edge before cruising to the 30-19 win. The Terrapins’ hitting continued to improve, as they hit .435 with 20 kills and no errors on 46 attempts in the frame.
After Tech took a 9-8 lead in game four on a kill by Kellogg, the two teams exchanged the next 15 points before back-to-back kills by Niekamp and Stegemann gave Tech a two-point lead at 18-16. With the Jackets still leading by two points at 24-22, Stephanie Robbins entered to serve for Kaminskas and delivered two service aces to extend the lead to four points. The Jackets finished off the game with a 31-29 win off back-to-back kills by Gray.
With Tech leading 4-3 in game five, the Terrapins scored six unanswered points, three off blocks by Brown, Katie Usher and Tedi Doucet, before cruising to the 15-9 game win behind the stellar play of Brittney Grove, who had three kills and one block assist in the frame.
The Yellow Jackets now await word as to if they’ll earn an at-large selection into the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Selection show is scheduled to be aired live on ESPNU this Sunday at 8 p.m.
–GT–
