Sept. 5, 2004
The No. 12 Georgia Tech volleyball team dropped a 3-2 match to No. 23 Wisconsin, 22-30, 30-26, 22-30, 30-19, 18-20 at the Badger Classic in Madison, Wisc. In the match, Laura Kuhn led the Jackets, posting a career high 18 kills and hitting .400. Georgia Tech now falls to 0-4 on the season while the Badgers improve to 1-1.
The Yellow Jackets will return home to host Xavier Friday at 7 p.m. in the Renaissance Georgia Tech Invitational in O’Keefe Gym.
“We did a great job of rebounding tonight after last night’s defeat,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “For the first time this season, we finally looked like the Georgia Tech team that we can be. We still have a few kinks to work out, but the execution was far better and the passion was there. Lynnette Moster did an outstanding job and our young players Ulrike Stegeman and Lindsey Laband are maturing day by day and showed a lot of improvement tonight and I really liked the way our team fought to take a really tough Wisconsin team to five in their own gym. We are looking forward to our home opener this weekend and working hard towards our first victory.”
Offensively, Wisconsin outhit the Jackets .264 to .227 as Aubrey Meierotto had 20 kills and Sheila Shaw recorded 17. Jackie Simpson paced the offense with 62 assists in the match.
For Tech, Lynnette Moster had a match-high 26 kills and recorded 15 digs while hitting .339 and earned all-tournament honors. Moster was followed by Gergen who had 14 kills, while Sauer chipped in 11. Lindsey Laband posted a career high 69 assists in the match.
Defensively, Tech had 82 digs in the match as Marisa Aston had a season high 26, followed by Jennifer Randall who had 18 and Abby Showers who had 11. At the net, Gergen notched six block assists, followed by Kuhn who had three and Sauer who had six total blocks.
In game one, the Jackets fell behind 7-10 before siding out on a kill cross court from Moster. A stuff block from Gergen and Kuhn and a down the line kill from Kuhn narrowed the gap to 10-11. The Jackets then took a 14-13 lead with three straight kills from Kuhn, Sauer and Gergen. After a service error from Showers, Tech could not get the serve back as the Badgers scored on three straight hitting errors and on kills from Bladlow and Odenthal and took a 19-15 lead. The Jackets finally got the serve back with a kill from Sauer down the line, but Wisconsin came right back with a kill from Weidner and posting a 20-15 lead. Tech closed within three points, 18-21, with a service ace from Laband and a kill from Moster, but it would be as close as the Jackets would get as Wisconsin went on to win the game 30-22. In the game, the Jackets hit a dismal .186 while the Badgers connected for a .366 hitting percentage. Moster led the way with five kills while Aston had six digs.
At the beginning of game two, Tech fell behind 3-5 on several Jacket hitting errors. But, Wisconsin’s offense began to struggle as two straight Badgers errors tied the score at 5-5. The Jackets then took a 11-8 lead on a kill from Stegeman and two straight hitting errors from Odenthal. After a Badger timeout, Odenthal immediately put a kill down making the score 11-9. Tech then went on a 7-2 scoring run with kills from Moster, Kuhn and Sauer and a solo block from Sauer forcing Wisconsin into its second timeout at 18-11. However, Wisconsin regrouped and scored on a kill from Meierotto and on three Jacket hitting errors, causing Tech to take a timeout at 19-16. The Jackets looked to be in control of the game, building a 27-21 lead on kills from Moster, Sauer and Gergen. After a kill from Meierottto off the hands of Laband, the Jackets responded with a kill behind the setter from Gergen. Gergen then recorded a service error which then led to two hitting errors from the Jackets and forcing Tech to take a timeout at 28-26. After the timeout, Laband recorded a kill off a Badgers’ hands and then Bladow sailed a ball out of bounds to give the Jackets the game, 30-26. In the game, the Jackets hit only .163, but strong defense from Aston who had eight digs, forced the Badgers into a .111 percentage. In the game, Moster again recorded five kills while Gergen, Kuhn and Sauer each had three.
The Jackets kept it close in game three until the score was tied at 6-6. At that point in the game, the Badgers went on a 12-4 scoring run, capitalizing on several unforced errors by Tech including two passing errors and six hitting errors, forcing Tech to call a timeout at 10-18. The Jackets climbed back to within six at 14-20 on a stuff block from Stegeman and Sauer, a service ace from Randall and a kill from Moster, but it would be as close as Tech would get in the game as Wisconsin finished out the game with a 10-8 scoring run to win the game 30-22. In the game, Tech hit only .150 while the Badgers hit .333. Moster led the way with seven kills in the game for the Jackets while Randall had six digs.
The Jackets came out on fire in game four, building a 5-1 lead to open the game and force the Badgers into an early timeout. Moster recorded two kills over the rightback defender in the servers corner and Laband had a kill in the middle of the court off a dig from Showers during the run. After the timeout, the Jackets continued to click on offense and defense, building a 18-7 lead and causing Wisconsin to call its final timeout. Immediately following the timeout, Gergen recorded a service error, but Stegeman came back with a punishing kill down the middle of the net to make the score 19-8. Tech maintained its intensity, scoring on several kills from Kuhn, Moster and Sauer. With the score 28-19, the Jackets got a down the line kill from Moster and Laband went back and served a ball which was passed to the scorer’s table to give Tech the game 30-19. In the game, Tech’s offense hit a season best .541 and recorded only one hitting error in the game. Moster led the way with six kills while Kuhn was close behind with five.
Tech carried its momentum into game five, building a 5-3 lead on three kills from Moster as well as a service ace and forcing Wisconsin into a timeout. After the timeout, Gergen and Kuhn combined for a block, Odenthal posted a Badger service error and Sauer recorded a kill, giving Tech an 8-4 lead and making the Badgers call their final timeout of the match. When play began, Gergen recorded a kill behind the setter down the line, but then a service error from Showers gave Wisconsin the ball back at 9-5. After the service error, a ballhandling error from Laband and a hitting error from Gergen forced Tech into a timeout at 9-7. Wisconsin then tied the game at 10-10 on a kill from Sheila Shaw. The match then went back and forth with six ties until a questionable overlap call by a line judge on Sauer gave the Badgers a 17-16 lead. A service error by Odenthal tied the match again at 17-17 but a kill from Weidner gave Wisconsin a 18-17 lead. Tech responded with a kill from Gergen, but could never regroup as Meierotto recorded two kills to give Wisconsin the game, 20-18.
