Oct. 11, 2002
Jayme Gergen recorded a career high 16 kills (.412 percentage) and tallied five block assists while Blair Moon tallied a career high 14 kills and 19 digs as the No. 21 Georgia Tech volleyball team defeated Clemson in five games, 30-27, 30-24, 33-35, 19-30, 15-12. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 19-3, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference while the Tigers fall to 13-8, 4-2 ACC.
“Everytime we play on the road in the ACC, it’s a battle,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “Tonight we came out on top by virtue of sheer hustle and effort. Clemson did a nice job of exposing our weaknesses but our team stepped up with inspired defense to pull out a tight match. Jayme Gergen was a bright spot for us getting big kills and making smart plays. Kele Eveland’s competitive spirit drove the team when the match got tight which is why she’s one of the best setters in the country.”
The Tigers outhit the Jackets .217 to .200, but Tech recorded 91 digs to Clemson’s 85. In the match, Marisa Aston tallied 19 digs, while Kele Eveland had 16, followed by Keight Vincent who recorded a career high 15. Eveland recorded 63 assists in the match and had six blocks.
Clemson was led by Lori Ashton who had a match high 25 kills and Stephanie Haskell led the team with 22 digs.
In the first game, the Jackets jumped out to a 7-3 lead behind the hitting of Lauren Sauer and Gergen. A kill from Jessi Betcher and Lori Ashton allowed the Tigers to cut the lead to 8-6. The teams then went back and forth until two errors by the Tigers forced them into a timeout at 13-17. Clemson tied the game at 19-19 on a hitting error from Gergen, but the Tigers came back with two hitting errors giving Tech a 21-19 lead. With two kills from Moon and a stuff block from Kele Eveland and Alexandra Preiss, the Jackets built a 27-23 lead and held on to win the game, 30-27. In the game, Sauer recorded six kills and Moon tallied five digs to lead Tech.
Tech jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the second game with kills from Gergen, Eveland, Preiss and Moon. Clemson fought back with three consecutive kills from Ashton, Zoric and Beasley, followed by a reception error from Moon to make the score 9-8. Two stuff blocks by Tech and a kill from Sauer forced the Tigers into their first timeout at 15-9. A great dig from Vincent on an attack from Ashton led to an Eveland dump, giving the Jackets a 20-13 lead. Tech built a 29-19 lead on three kills from Preiss and a Gergen and Kuhn stuff block. Clemson then scored five times on hitting errors from Tech and consecutive kills from Leslie Finn. The game ended when Finn hit an attack into the antennae, giving Tech the game at 30-24. In the game, Preiss recorded seven kills while Marisa Aston notched six digs and Gergen tallied three block assists.
In game three, Tech held a 11-8 lead before the Tigers fought back to take their first lead of the match at 15-13. Preiss and Kuhn recorded kills to tie the score at 15-15. The Jackets then took a 24-21 lead on kills from Eveland, Moon and Kuhn and forcing the Tigers into a timeout. Two hitting errors from the Jackets and a kill from Finn tied the score again at 24-24. For the next twenty points, the two teams fought back and forth with neither team scoring more than a point at a time. Clemson tied the score at 32-32 on a kill from Zoric and then took a 33-32 lead on a kill from Kristin Swanson. A Moon kill tied the game at 33-33, but a kill from Zoric and a hitting error from Moon gave the Tigers the game, 35-33. In the game, Kuhn tallied six kills while Eveland had six digs and 19 assists.
Clemson carried its momentum into game four, jumping out to a 16-7 lead on poor passing from the Jackets and good defense by the Tigers and forcing Tech into a timeout. Out of the timeout, Tech recorded two kills from Moon and one from Kuhn causing Clemson to call a timeout at 10-16. Behind the seving of Eveland, Tech closed the gap to 13-16, but the Tigers sided out on a kill from Finn. The Tigers then went on a roll, outscoring Tech 14 to six and won the game, 30-19. In the game, Tech recorded a -.037 hitting percentage, the first time this season that the Jackets hit below .000 in a game.
In the match’s final game, the Jackets fell behind 8-10 on a Tiger kill from Beasley, but the Jackets came back with a stuff block from Gergen and Sauer and two straight kills from Sauer to take an 11-10. A Beasley kill tied the game at 11-11, but Tech fought back with a kill from Gergen and from Eveland and a Tiger hitting error to take a 14-11 lead. A solo block from Sauer ended the game for the Jackets, winning by the score of 15-12.
The Yellow Jackets will return to action Tuesday when they travel to Durham, NC, to take on Duke at 7:30 p.m.
