Sept. 1, 2006
ATLANTA – Junior Ulrike Stegemann and sophomore Callie Miller each had 16 kills and sophomore Allie Niekamp added 60 assists to lead Georgia Tech (1-1) past archrival Georgia (2-3), 30-19, 30-15, 26-30, 25-30, 15-10, in volleyball action on Friday night in front of a record-setting O’Keefe Gymnasium crowd of 2,000 screaming Yellow Jackets.
The record crowd surpassed O’Keefe’s previous high of 1,849 against UGA on Nov. 26, 1999.
In the deciding fifth game, freshman Chrissy DeMichelis entered for the Jackets as a substitution and made her presence felt, making five key kills to rally the Jackets out in front of the Bulldogs, 10-4. UGA made a slight comeback but Stegemann and Miller put an end to that threat as they rallied off consecutive kills to end the Bulldogs hope for a comeback and give the Rambling Wreck a five-point victory.
Junior Lindsey Gray added 12 kills for Tech in the match, while sophomore Talisa Kellogg had 10. The Yellow Jackets hit .562 in the deciding game and .342 for the match.
In Tech’s opener against Mississippi State (4-0), the Yellow Jackets dropped a tough 1-3 decision, falling 27-30, 25-30, 30-27, 25-30, in a closely contested battle. The Jackets made several runs on the undefeated Bulldogs, but just could not overtake them.
Tech hit .276 in the match, while MSU slugged .305. Tech was led by Niekamp who accomplished a triple-double, the third in Tech history and first since 2003, with 10 kills, 44 assists and 10 digs.
Gray led the offensive attack with 14 kills, while Stegemann and Kellogg each added 13 apiece.
MSU’s Eva Kriegel had a triple-double for the Bulldogs, striking 10 kills, 57 assists and 10 digs. Her sister Orshi Kriegel led the way with 26 kills in the match.
The Yellow Jackets will face Georgia State (9:30 a.m.) and Northern Iowa (3:30 p.m.) in the final day of the Regency Suites Midtown Invitational on Saturday. All matches on Saturday will be free of charge and can be followed on WREK Radio (91.1 FM) and www.ramblinwreck.com via live stats.
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