Oct. 17, 2002
Playing its third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference road match, the No. 20 Georgia Tech volleyball team (19-4, 5-2 ACC) travels to Winston-Salem, NC, to take on Wake Forest (10-10, 4-3 ACC) Saturday at 6 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets are coming off a road trip earlier in the week at Duke in which Tech fell in five games.
“This is the third consecutive ACC road match we’ve played in the past week and road wins are a big key to having success in our league,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “I was disappointed in our performance Tuesday at Duke, but I know our players are excited about the opportunity to play well on Saturday against a strong Wake Forest team.”
Saturday’s match marks the 18th meeting between the Demon Deacons and the Jackets, with Tech holding the edge, 11-6. The Jackets defeated Wake Forest in both of their meetings last season, and have not lost to the Demon Deacons since the 1999 season.
“Wake Forest has a very good player in outside hitter Valerie Rydberg, and their setter, Ashlee Phillips, does a nice job of running their offense,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “Similar to Duke, they’ve been working hard at replacing outside hitter Trina Maso de Moya, who completed her eligibility, and Valerie has come on very strong for them in her last two matches. The keys for us are going to be the efficiency of our offense, the consistency of our ball control and putting up a strong block.”
The Jackets have played their last three matches without their top player, Lynnette Moster (Liberty, Ind.), who has been out with an ankle sprain but could see some action in the lineup Saturday. Inserted in her place has been freshman Blair Moon (Missouri City, Texas), who in her three matches as a starter has averaged 2.7 kills per game and 2.9 digs per game and helped Tech to a 2-1 record.
With Moster, Tech continues to be led by juniors Alexandra Preiss (Berlin, Germany) and Kele Eveland (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Preiss is currently ranked second in the conference in blocks per game (1.18) and fourth in the ACC in hitting percentage (.349). Eveland runs an offense which is ranked ninth in the nation in assists per game (15.34) and eighth in the country in hitting percentage (.301).
“Saturday’s match is an important match to our team and in the standings in the ACC,” said Shymansky. “Wake Forest is a hot team right now and I expect our match against them to be a hard-fought battle.”
