Sept. 13, 2008
OXFORD, Miss. – Middle hitters Asia Stawica and Callie Miller combined for 20 kills and setter Mary Ashley Tippins ran a balanced offense as Georgia Tech swept Eastern Illinois, 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-16), Saturday morning at the Gillom Center on the campus of the University of Mississippi.
Georgia Tech (7-2) opened the match on a 5-0 run and never looked back, finishing off the Magnolia Invitational with a 2-1 record. With one more match on the docket for the tournament, Tech won’t know its finish or all-tournament members until after the host Rebels play SMU later today. Eastern Illinois exits the event with a 3-7 record in 2008.
Stawicka played one of the best matches of her young career, hitting .556 with a match-high 12 kills. The freshman also led all players with five blocks in the match. Miller added eight kills while hitting .438 on the day.
Tippins posted 28 assists, six digs and two block assists while running an offense that hit .247 on the morning, including .400 in the third and final game. Kandell led the Yellow Jacket defense with 11 digs.
Stawicka, Miller and Talisa Kellogg all logged four kills in the opening set and Tech’s blockers held Eastern Illinois to a .091 hitting clip with four total blocks as the Yellow Jackets won the opening game for the first time in the tournament, 25-18. The Panthers would pull within one point at 11-10, but a 6-1 run gave the Jackets a cushion they wouldn’t relinquish.
With the second set tied at 8-8, the Jackets scored 11 of the next 12 points before cruising to a comfortable 25-13 win. Tech received help from the Panthers, as Eastern Illinois committed 11 attacking errors while recording only five kills in the frame.
A 9-2 run by the Jackets late in the third set assured the sweep for the Yellow Jackets, who picked up their fourth 3-0 win of the season.
Eastern Illinois’ offense was run by Hannah Deterding, who recorded 20 assists in the match while Brittany Wallace posted a match-best 14 digs.
The Yellow Jackets open Atlantic Coast Conference play next weekend when they travel to Clemson, S.C. for the Clemson Invitational Sept. 18-19. Tech will face Clemson Thursday at 7 p.m. before closing out the tournament with a match against Florida A&M Friday at 4 p.m. Live stats for the entire tournament will be available at RamblinWreck.com.
–GT–
