Nov. 18, 2011
ATLANTA – Monique Mead made her way up the Tech record books with her 24 kills, but the Georgia Tech volleyball team fell in a thrilling five set match to No. 22 Miami Friday night in front of 1,012 fans at O’Keefe Gymnasium.
With 24 kills on the evening, Mead moved into third place in the Tech single-season record books for kills. The Newnan, Ga. Native now has 563 in 2011 and 1,434 in her three years on the Flats, placing her 10th in Tech’s career annals.
“I thought that we played hard tonight,” said head coach Tonya Johnson. “We just didn’t execute in crunch time when we needed to. Hopefully we can bounce back tomorrow night against a good Florida State team.”
Kaleigh Colson dished out 49 assists, the ninth time this season she has reached the 40 assist mark. Fifteen of those helpers went out to Jennifer Percy as she nailed a season best 15 kills while also making six digs and two blocks on the night.
Tech turned to Mead to lead the first set comeback after the Yellow Jackets fell behind 12-18, and she didn’t disappoint. The junior notched two kills, a pair of service aces and a solo block down the stretch as the Jackets outscored Miami, 13-4, closing out the first frame with a 25-20 win. Mead notched six kills in the set, while Jennifer Percy and Miami’s Ali Becker added four apiece.
The Hurricanes tied the match at 1-1 with impressive play from Becker and Alex Johnson in the second set. The duo combined for eight kills on just 13 swings with no errors, while Miami hit .342 as a team in the 25-20 set win.
Three block assists by Quinn Evans highlighted an 8-1 run by the Jackets halfway through the third set, and Tech held on to take the 2-1 match lead with a 25-20 victory. Tech held Miami’s hitters to a meager .077 clip, while Mead and Percy combined for 10 kills on 21 swings in the frame.
The Jackets used an 8-1 run, midway through the third set to take a 20-13 lead, and held on for the 25-20 win. With the third set tied at 12-12, Tech went on an 8-1 run to take a 20-12 lead, and held on to win, 25-20 to take the 2-1 edge in the match.
With Tech down just 5-4 in the fourth set, Miami went on a 6-0 run and then on a 5-0 run later in match to break the lead open to 21-11 where they would hang on for the victory and tie the match up at two-all with a 25-15 win. Emani Sims netted a set high six kills for Miami to help them to the victory.
In the fifth and final set, the Jackets battled, but at the nine-all mark, Miami broke the game open once again to close the set out on a 6-2 run and earn the 15-11 comeback victory.
The Jackets will be back in action tomorrow night in their penultimate regular season game when they take on No. 21 Florida State in the confines of O’Keefe Gymnasium. The game will begin at 6 p.m.
