Nov. 3, 2011
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech volleyball team will return to the road this weekend with a trip that will take them to Boston and College Park. The Jackets will face off with Boston College Friday night at 7 p.m. in Chestnut Hill, Mass., followed by a Sunday afternoon meeting with Maryland at 2 p.m.
The Jackets are coming off of a 1-1 weekend at O’Keefe Gymnasium that saw a sweep of Wake Forest and a 3-1 loss to Duke on ESPN3.com. Monique Mead led all Jackets with 48 kills for a 6.86 kill/set average and a .347 hitting percentage on the weekend. Also seeing success on the weekend were the outside hitting corps as Ivona Kolak tallied 21 kills (3.00/set) and a team high .436 hitting percentage while Jennifer Percy netted 17 kills (2.43/set) and a .250 hitting percentage.
THE TEAMS
SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE: Boston College is currently 7-17 on the season with just a 3-10 ACC record. The Eagles have earned non-conference wins over Utah, back-to-back victories over Columbia and Rhode Island and NJIT. Their conference wins have come at home against Virginia and Virginia Tech and then later at Wake Forest. Currently, BC is on a four-game losing streak.
Tsvetelina Dureva has been solid for the Eagles tallying 235 kills in 24 games. The Eagles have split the setting duties with Kellie Barnum and Cagla Sen splitting time. Barnum has registered 455 sets on the year while Sen has 261.
SERIES PAST: The Jackets have dominated Boston College over the years holding a 12-2 record against the Eagles, winning the last nine in a row, while sweeping BC seven of those nine times. The Jackets last loss to Boston College came back on October 8, 2006 on the road. The Jackets have never lost to Boston College at home.
SCOUTING MARYLAND: Maryland is 9-16 overall and like BC is 3-10 in the ACC this season. The Terrapins saw some success at the beginning of the season notching four wins in a row from Sept. 2 to Sept. 9 defeating VCU, Quinnipiac, Xavier and Yale followed by a couple of wins over Delaware and Akron. The Terrapins even started their ACC play off on the right foot winning three of their first four games over BC, NC State and Virginia, but as of late, Maryland is on a nine game losing streak entering this weekend.
Mary Cushman leads the Terrapin hitters with 262 kills in 2011. She is followed by Ashleigh Crutcher who has 208 on the year. Remy McBain, has dished out the majority of the sets on the year with 924 total assists for 9.53 a game. She is also one of the top hitters for the Terrapins with 166 kills on the year.
SERIES PAST: Georgia Tech and Maryland have battled every time that they have met with the series tied at 26-all. Last season, Maryland took the victory in the only meeting between the two teams, but Georgia Tech has won six out of the last eight match ups between the two schools including a 3-1 victory this year at O’Keefe Gymnasium on October 7.
THE STATS
MEAD LEADS THE ACC (AND COUNTRY): Junior Monique Mead continues to lead the ACC in kills per set and is second in the nation at 5.09. She also leads the ACC in points per set and ranks second in the country with 5.79. The Newnan, Ga., native has nine double-doubles this season, 11 matches with at least 20 kills and has recorded double figure kills in each match this season. Mead is also averaging 2.61 digs per set and 0.84 blocks.
Last weekend against Wake Forest and Duke, Mead registered two 20-kill games and a double-double adding 15 digs to her 27 kills against Duke.
DUAL THREAT: The Jackets have a dual threat at the setter position with Freshman Ali Santi dishing out 10.89 assists per set this year. Her 60 assists against NC State was good enough for second most in a game in the ACC this season and she also has five double-doubles under her belt.
However, as of late, Kaleigh Colson has been taking the majority of the sets for the Jackets, netting 506 on the year in 53 sets for a 9.55 assist/set average, sixth in the ACC. Colson has dished out at least 40 assists in three of her last four games, netting 87 against Wake Forest and Duke along. The sophomore also has a knack for finding the open spots on the court and has recorded 75 kills this year (10 last weekend) and 24 service aces which ranks second on the team. Her aces/game average, however, is first in the ACC.
Colson’s aces have helped Tech to a league best 1.31 aces per set (1.46/set in ACC play). Colson is a major threat when she is on the court as she recorded her first career triple-double at Miami (34 assists, 12 kills, 11 digs) also earning four service aces in the match.
