Sept. 28, 2012
RALEIGH, N.C. – NC State outlasted the Georgia Tech volleyball team, 3-2 (21-25, 25-12, 25-17, 15-25, 12-15), in what proved to be a battle between the two top teams in the ACC.
Georgia Tech falls to 11-3 overall and 3-1 in ACC play, while NC State maintains its hold on the top spot in the league with a 14-1 overall mark and 4-0 in league action.
NC State gave up 30 points on service errors and reception errors combined, but managed to come out victorious as Tech hit for just .195.
“I’m disappointed in how we competed at the end of the match tonight,” head coach Tonya Johnson said. “I hope that this is a great lesson for us in that when we’re playing on the road we have to learn to compete and be mentally tough from beginning to end.
“I told our team all week that the team who was most disciplined, made the least amount of errors, and played the most aggressive would win the match and in the end that turned out to be NC State.”
On the night, the Yellow Jackets tallied 13 service aces which are a season-best in a match and tie the second-most aces in a single match in GT history. Monique Mead led the team with nine service aces in just the first two sets – the most by an individual this season and the second-most by an individual in program history.
Mead and senior Bailey Hunter had 14 and 13 kills, respectively, to lead Tech. Jennifer Percy had a season-best nine kills in the match and Nicki Meyer contributed a season-high 22 digs.
Tech jumped out to an 8-3 lead behind three services aces in set one. The Wolfpack battled back to tie the set at 11 and forced a GT timeout. Seven unanswered points put NC State ahead, 14-11. Tech hit just -.031, while the Wolfpack hit at a .154 clip to win the game, 25-21.
Mead and Kaleigh Colson each had two services aces, while Nicki Meyer added one. Nikki Glass led the Wolfpack in the opening stanza with four kills.
The Yellow Jackets started the second stanza much like the first one, sprinting out to an 11-6 lead. Tech doubled its lead over NC State, 14-7, to cause a Wolfpack timeout. Mead found her rhythm and served four-straight aces to propel the team to a 23-11 lead and ultimately the win, 25-12.
The attacking errors forgotten, the Yellow Jackets came out swinging and hit for a .381 percentage in the second game, while the Wolfpack managed a .143 clip.
The Jackets improved their hitting further in the third game with a .429 hitting percentage. Jennifer Percy went 5-for-9 (.556) to help Tech to a 25-17 victory.
The fourth set was NC State’s turn to start off strong. Six-straight points put the Wolfpack in the lead 11-4. The Pack never relinquished the lead and forced a fifth and final game.
Tech opened the deciding frame with a block by Annie Czarnecki and Colson. The momentum then swung in State’s favor after the Wolfpack capitalized on a Tech serving error and a block by Morgan Cormier and Alesha Wilson. The teams traded the lead five times and the score was tied on eight occasions, but NC State held on to win the game and match.
Georgia Tech will return to action on Sunday at North Carolina. First serve is set for 1 p.m. The Yellow Jackets will be looking to hand the Tar Heels their first loss at home as the team is 7-0 at Carmichael Arena.
