Sept. 13, 2003
Lynnette Moster recorded 17 kills and Lauren Sauer added 14 as the No. 10 Georgia Tech volleyball team defeated No. 13 Santa Clara in three games, 30-22, 31-29, 30-24 in the US Bank/Arby’s Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 7-0 on the season while the Broncos fall to 5-3.
“Santa Clara is a really strong team and really challenged our offense to execute,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “We’ve grown accustomed to being a very efficient team offensively, but had to rely on our defense to squeak out a win. Our outside hitters were our anchor offensively and came through us at crucial times in the match. It was tough playing two different ranked opponents within a 24-hour period, but our team responded well to the challenge and is now getting focused on competing against Nebraska tomorrow.”
The Jackets hit a season-low .313 in the match, but still outhit the Broncos, holding them to a .178 hitting percentage. Jayme Gergen tallied 12 kills in the match and added three block assists while Alexandra Preiss followed with 7 kills and two blocks. Eveland notched 47 assists in the match.
Defensively, Tech recorded 59 digs to Santa Clara’s 47 as four Yellow Jackets finished the match with double-figure digs. Marisa Aston led the way with 12 while Eveland had 11 and both Jennifer Randall and Keight Vincent had 10.
For Santa Clara, Toni Muratore and Cassie Perret each led their team with 10 kills a piece.
The Yellow Jackets return to action Sunday at 4 p.m. ET when they will face No. 5 Nebraska in the final match of the US Bank/Arby’s Invitational.
The Jackets trailed in the first game, 2-4, before Vincent served four straight points giving Tech a 7-4 lead and forcing the Broncos into a timeout. Santa Clara fought back playing strong defense making the score 13-12 on a kill from Cassie Perret and a hitting error by Gergen. Behind the serving of Kele Eveland, the Jackets scored three straight points taking a 21-14 lead. Tech then scored on kill off the block from Moster, and a stuff block from Gergen and Moster and a hitting error from Perret to take a 24-15 lead. The Jackets scored the game’s final point of the game on a down the line kill from Moster to win, 30-22. In the game, Moster led the way with eight kills while Sauer recorded five. Defensively, Randall tallied five digs to lead the team.
Tech jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second game on a kill from Gergen and a service ace from Moster. Santa Clara scored on three kills from Potter and a hitting error from Moster to take a 10-9 lead. Tech then sided out on a kill down the middle of the net from Gergen to tie the game at 10-10. The Jackets then took a 13-10 lead on a service ace from Moster and two kills from Sauer, including one off a pancake dig from Eveland. The Jackets held a 24-22 from two straight service aces from Moster, before the Broncos went on a 4-0 scoring run to take a 26-22 lead. A kill from Muratore gave Santa Clara a 29-26 lead, but the Jackets sided out on a kill from Preiss to make the score 29-27. Vincent then entered the match and scored the games final four points on great defense and three kills from Moster to give Tech the game, 31-29.
Game three was close, with neither team holding more than a one point lead. With the score tied at 15-15, Moster went back to serve and scored two points on a Bronco hitting error and a kill from Gergen giving Tech a 17-15 lead. The Jackets then scored four straight points on a kill from Gergen, a service ace from Randall and two stuff blocks from Gergen and Sauer to build a 21-16 lead. Tech held on to win the game, winning the final point of the match on a hitting error from Toni Muratore.
