Sept. 13, 2006
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech volleyball team will return to action this weekend by hosting South Florida, Stetson and Sam Houston State in the Regency Suites Midtown Invitational Sept. 15-16 at O’Keefe Gymnasium. All of Georgia Tech’s games will be broadcast on WREK-Radio, 91.1 FM in Atlanta, and online at www.wrek.org. Livestats for all games in the tournament can be found at www.ramblinwreck.com.
The Jackets are scheduled to begin play Friday at 7:30 p.m. against South Florida, with the entire tournament schedule as follows:
Friday, September 15
12 noon – South Florida vs. Stetson
5 p.m. – Stetson vs. Sam Houston State
7:30 p.m. – Georgia Tech vs. South Florida
Saturday, September 16
10 a.m. – Sam Houston State vs. South Florida
6 p.m. – Georgia Tech vs. Stetson
8:30 p.m. – Georgia Tech vs. Sam Houston State
The originally-scheduled game times for Saturday were changed to 10 a.m., 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. so as not to conflict with the Georgia Tech football game against Troy, which begins at 1:30 p.m.
“We are always excited to play at home, and know we will have a great crowd again with a home football game for the Jackets as well,” said Georgia Tech head coach Bond Shymansky. “South Florida is a tough team with some powerful hitters. We want to make sure that we are tightening things up with our offensive system as we prepare for ACC play.
Tickets for the first two matches on Friday, as well as all day on Saturday, will be free, courtesy of the Regency Suites Hotel.
Parking for Friday’s 12 noon game will be available in the AMC Lot on the north side of O’Keefe Gymnasium and in the AMC and O’Keefe lots after 5 p.m. Fans interested in attending the 10 a.m. game on Saturday will be forced to park in pay lots on campus or along Fowler Street, while the O’Keefe Lots will be open for the two Georgia Tech matches in the evening.
The Yellow Jackets are off to a strong start to begin the 2006 campaign, posting a 5-2 record through their first seven contests. The Jackets are hitting .284 as a team and are being led by sophomore setter Allie Niekamp (.386) and freshman middle hitter Erin Birmingham (.384), while outside hitters Talisa Kellogg and Chrissy DeMichelis are pacing Tech with 3.11 and 3.09 kills per game, respectively.
Senior libero Abby Showers’ 4.03 digs per game is tops on the squad, while Birmingham and junior Nikki Kaminskas are each averaging over a block per game.
Tech will be seeking its second win in the series with South Florida Friday night, as the Bulls lead the series 2-1, with the last meeting resulting in the Jackets’ first victory in the series in 2003. The Jackets are also 1-2 against Stetson and stand at 0-2 vs. Sam Houston State, but haven’t faced either team since the 1992 season.
