Oct. 27, 2011
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech volleyball team will finally return home after a five-game, two week road trip to face off with Wake Forest Friday night at 7 p.m. and Duke, Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The game with Duke will be televised live on ESPN3.com with Michelle Smith on the play-by-play and Jennifer Hoffman on the color.
For those fans coming out to the Sunday match, t-shirts will be given out to the first 50 students in the door and each student that attends will receive a free waffle compliments of Waffle House. Tech fans or alumni returning to campus can get into the game for the reduced admission price of $1 with their ticket stub from Saturday night’s Clemson game.
Recently, Tech’s road trip took them to Florida, Virginia and Tennessee. The Jackets were 2-3 during that time dropping matches at No. 21 Florida State (3-0), Virginia Tech (3-2) and Middle Tennessee (3-1), but defeating No. 23 Miami (3-1) and Virginia (3-1).
The Jackets split last weekend in the Commonwealth of Virginia, losing a close one to the Hokies in Blacksburg, but rebounding Saturday night with a decisive 3-1 victory over Virginia extending their win streak over the `Hoos to eight-straight.
The Jackets are most recently coming off of a 3-1 loss against their last non-conference opponent of 2011, Middle Tennessee State University. Despite coming out to a 1-0 lead, the Jackets allowed the Blue Raiders back into the game and MTSU took advantage to earn the victory behind a game-high 24 kills by Ashley Adams.
THE TEAMS
SCOUTING WAKE FOREST: Wake Forest is currently 5-15 on the season with just a 2-9 ACC record. The Demon Deacons have earned victories over Charleston Southern (3-0) and North Florida (3-0) at the Deacon Invitational and also beating High Point in non-conference play 3-0. The Deacs other two wins, coming in conference play, were over Duke (3-1) and Maryland (3-0).
Wake has lost 10 of their last 11 games entering the meeting with Georgia Tech, being swept four times and falling in five a couple of times.
Kadija Fornah leads the way for Wake starting and playing in all 20 matches on the year and registering 242 (3.41/set) kills to go along with 202 digs and 31 blocks.
SERIES PAST: The Jackets and Deacons have met 36 times in the past with Tech holding the 27-9 series advantage. In the last 10 meetings with Wake, Tech is 8-2 including a 3-1 record under Tonya Johnson. Of the eight victories, five were sweeps, but the Jackets were swept in the two losses against Wake coming last season at O’Keefe and back in 2006 on the road in Winston-Salem.
SCOUTING DUKE: Duke is currently receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches poll which would place them 31st in the country with their 14-6 record, 8-3 in ACC play. Duke is currently on a six-game win streak entering their game with Georgia Tech (as of Thursday, they play Clemson Friday night).
The Blue Devils are led by Sophia Dunworth who has 222 kills (2.96/game) on the season to go along with 101 digs and 37 blocks. Duke recently had two players named the ACC players of the week as sophomore libero Ali McCurdy took Player of the Week honors and freshman Jeme Obeime was named Freshman of the Week in a sweep of North Carolina and NC State.
SERIES PAST: Duke and Tech have met 57 times in the past with Blue Devils holding the 38-19 series advantage. Duke is currently on a six game win streak.
THE STATS
MEAD LEADS THE ACC (AND COUNTRY): Junior Monique Mead continues to lead the ACC in kills per set and is third in the nation at 4.94. She also leads the ACC in points per set and ranks second in the country with 5.66. The Newnan, Ga., native has eight double-doubles this season, nine matches with at least 20 kills and has recorded double figure kills in each match this season. Mead is also averaging 2.33 digs per set and 0.89 blocks.
DUAL THREAT: The Jackets have a dual threat at the setter position as Freshman Ali Santi is second in the ACC dishing out 10.89 assists per set. Her 60 assists against NC State was good enough for second most in a game in the ACC this season. She has five double-doubles this season.
However, as of late, Kaleigh Colson has been dishing out the majority of the sets for the Jackets combining for 81 against Florida State and Miami to bring her season total to 386. Colson also has a knack for finding the open spots on the court and has recorded 61 kills this year (14 last weekend) and 23 service aces which ranks second on the team. Colson’s aces have helped Tech to a league best 1.38 aces per set (1.56/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.
