Nov. 13, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. – On Senior Day at Reynolds Coliseum, NC State was just too much for the Georgia Tech volleyball team, as they swept the Jackets 3-0 in front of a crowd of 483, Sunday. Tech was led by Monique Mead who registered 15 kills for the second straight match.
Also notching double-digit kills on the day was Jennifer Percy who had 11. Kaleigh Colson led the way in the assist category tallying 31 assist to go along with five digs and two kills while Nicki Meyer had a strong defensive game with a game-high 19 digs for the Yellow Jackets.
Margaret Salata and Dariyan Hopper each notched 12 kills for NC State while Kelly Wood’s 16 digs were enough to make her the NC State All-Time digs leader in her final game at Reynolds Coliseum.
The Jackets let NC State get out to a 7-1 lead and just could not rebound as the Wolfpack went on to earn the 25-16 victory. Tech rebounded in the middle of the set by rallying off four points in a row to bring the game from 4-12 to 8-12 and then one sideout later brought the NC State lead to just one (12-13), but the Wolfpack responded with a 7-1 run of their own to take a 20-13 lead and go on to the victory. Jennifer Percy led all attackers with four kills in the first set, but 3.5 team blocks by the Wolfpack and a .357 hitting percentage were too much to overcome.
Set two was a much closer game between the two teams that saw eight tie scores and two lead changes. Tech finally gained their first lead of the game when, behind the serving of Kaleigh Colson, the Jackets rallied off four straight points to earn a 13-12 advantage. Later in the game, Tech was on a 2-0 run and looked like they would retake the lead when a kicked ball by Kelly Wood found its way over the net and onto the floor squelching Tech’s run and giving the Wolfpack a boost of their own. Four kills and a couple of blocks later and NC State had the 25-22 victory. Percy put up another four kills in the second set while Mead had three of her own while the Jackets put up a .250 hitting percentage in the set.
Tech came from behind multiple times in set three to tie things up including a three point run to bring things to 10-11, but NC State went on a 8-1 run of their own to extend their lead to eight points and solidify their victory and sweep the Jackets. Mead came alive in the set rallying off eight kills and accounting for Tech’s last five points of the match.
The Yellow Jackets return home to finish out their regular season with three games in O’Keefe starting on Friday night, November 18 with a 7 p.m. match with Miami. The weekend play will continue Saturday, November 19 at 6 p.m. against Florida State and the Jackets will wrap up their season with a 6:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, November 23 against Clemson on Senior Day.
