Oct. 30, 2002
Standing in second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings, the No. 23 Georgia Tech volleyball team (22-4, 8-2 ACC) packs its bags for two matches on Tobaccco Road this weekend, taking on No. 13 North Carolina (21-2, 8-1 ACC) and NC State (3-24, 0-9 ACC).
Friday at 7 p.m. in Carmichael Auditorium, the Yellow Jackets will face the Tar Heels, who are atop the conference standings. The game will be carried live on WREK radio (91.1 FM) beginning at 6:45 pm EST and can also be heard via audio internet streaming at www.wrek.org. The two teams met earlier this season in Atlanta, with North Carolina winning in a five-game match, 30-28, 30-15, 24-30, 30-23, 17-15. In that match, Alexandra Preiss led the Yellow Jackets with 19 kills and five block assists while Lynnette Moster, who left the match with an ankle sprain, led Tech with a .536 hitting percentage. Tech has not won in Carmichael since 1997.
“Once again, our match with North Carolina is a big match. Carolina is a good team with a lot of offensive weapons and they put up a strong block. For us to win, our passing is going to have to be consistent and we are going to have to play with motivation for the entire match. I expect just like our first meeting, that it will go down to the wire and be a nail biter.”
Saturday at 1 p.m., Tech will take on NC State in a match that will be played at Peace College in Raleigh, N.C. In their previous meeting, the Jackets defeated the Wolfpack in three games, 30-19, 30-18, 30-18. Lauren Sauer led Tech that night, recording 17 kills on 18 attempts and a hitting percentage of .944, which is ranked second in the NCAA record books for hitting percentage in a match with 15 or more attempts.
“NC State has struggled this year, but our team does well with bouncing back after a match the night before and with making sure that they take care of business,” said Shymansky. “They understand after having some disappointing losses this year what it means to go out on the road and play aggressively and compete against every team they play, and I expect they’ll do just that on Saturday afternoon.”
The Yellow Jackets continue to be led by Lynnette Moster (Liberty, Ind.) and Alexandra Preiss (Berlin, Germany). Moster leads the team in kills per game (5.41), digs per game (3.04) and hitting percentage (.367) while Preiss is second on the team in blocks per game (1.16) and hitting percentage (.342).
“This weekend is important in terms of conference standings and national rankings, but the bottom line is that it is just one more weekend of matches,” said Shymansky. “We have a lot of volleyball left this season, and if we stay motivated and keep our focus, I think we are in for an exciting weekend of volleyball.”
