Nov. 20, 2002
For the second time in school history, No. 20 Georgia Tech volleyball team hosts the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Thursday through Sunday in O’Keefe Gymnasium on the Tech campus.
The Jackets (28-5, 13-3 ACC) enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and play seventh-seeded Wake Forest (13-17) Friday at 5 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
The tournament begins Thursday with eighth seeded Virgina (8-24, 2-14 ACC) facing ninth seeded NC State (3-31, 0-16 ACC) at 7:30 p.m. In Friday’s other quarterfinals, No. 4 seed Florida State (19-11,10-6 ACC) will take on No. 5 Clemson (17-14, 8-8 ACC) at 11 a.m., the winner of Thursday’s match will face No. 1 seeded North Carolina (28-2, 15-1 ACC) at 1:30 p.m., and No. 3 seed Duke (23-8, 11-5 ACC) faces No. 6 seed Maryland (18-13, 7-9 ACC) at 7 p.m.
Saturday’s action includes a 1:30 semifinal match featuring the winners of the matches on Friday morning. Should the Jackets win, they will advance to play the winner of Friday’s Duke-Maryland matchup at 4 p.m. The championship will be held on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised live on Fox Sports Net South.
Each Georgia Tech match will be broadcast live on WREK radio (91.1 FM) and can also be heard in streaming audio over the Internet at www.wrek.org. In addition, livestats will be available for every match in the tournament at www.theacc.com.
The Jackets have an all-time record a 10-24 record in the ACC Tournament. However, since 1991, Tech has a 10-10 record, including its only tournament title in 1995. During the regular season, Tech won both matches against the Demon Deacons, including a 3-0 victory last week in Atlanta, Ga.
“Beating a team for the third time in a season is extremely difficult,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “Each of the last three years of the tournament, somebody has beaten a team twice in the regular season and then lost in the tournament, including Georgia Tech. We are trying desperately to stay focused on what is right in front of us, which is Wake Forest, and I can guarantee that Wake Forest will play us tougher than they did last weekend.”
“Having the tournament O’Keefe means a great deal to our team and coaching staff,” said Shymansky. “We play great at home, we play inspired at home, and our fans give us a great deal of energy and emotion and our players give it back. It’s a perfect environment for us to have a lot of success in this weekend.”
Tech has been led this season by all-America candidate Lynnette Moster (Liberty, Ind.) who leads the team in kills per game (5.18) and digs per game (3.22), Alexandra Preiss (Berlin, Germany), who leads the team in hitting percentage (.349), and Kele Eveland (Grand Rapids, Mich.) who leads the ACC in assists per game (13.29).
“We’ve been playing very well the last two weeks and we are in a great spot,” said Shymansky. “The last couple of years we’ve limped into the tournament with a few injuries or a loss late in the season. This year we are playing well and have beaten some good teams down the stretch and I really like our chances in this year’s tournament.”
This marks the second time that Tech has hosted the annual tournament. In 1996, the Jackets advanced to the finals before falling to Maryland in the championship match.
Tickets are priced at $4 for adults and $2 for students and are available through the Georgia Tech ticket office by calling 1-888-TECH-TIX.
