Oct. 24, 2002
After a nearly two weeks on the road, the No. 24 Georgia Tech volleyball team (20-4, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) returns to the cozy confines of O’Keefe Gymnasium to host two ACC matches this weekend. Tech hosts Virginia (7-17, 1-7 ACC) Friday at 7 p.m. while Maryland (14-9, 3-5 ACC) will visit Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s great to play at home and we’re coming back to O’Keefe Gym at a great time,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “It’s homecoming week and there’s a lot of excitement on campus. As a team, we are running on all cylinders.”
Friday’s match marks the second time that the Jackets have faced the Cavaliers this season, with Tech holding the series’ edge 16-14. The two teams met earlier this season in Charlottesville, with Tech winning in three games, 30-19, 30-18, 30-18. In that match, Lynnette Moster (Liberty, Ind.) led the Yellow Jackets with 12 kills, followed by Marisa Aston (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Keight Vincent (Duluth, Ga.) who each had nine digs.
On Saturday, Tech will entertain the Terrapins, who lead the series over Tech, 20-14. In their previous meeting, the Jackets defeated Maryland in College Park, Md., in four games. Moster led Tech with 29 kills, along with Lauren Sauer (Huntsville, Ala.) who had 17. Defensively, Aston recorded a career high 21 digs in the match.
Although the Jackets swept Virginia and Maryland earlier in the season, Shymansky says his team is not taking its opponents lightly this weekend.
“Our team has done a good job with being focused on the present and has not taken anyone for granted.We know that it’s a lot of hard work in our conference each time we play. We’ve already had the experience this year of losing focus during critical matches, and I think we’ve learned from that experience and we’ll be ready for this weekend.”
This weekend will also mark the return of Moster, who leads the team in virtually every statistical category, including hitting percentage (.377), kills per game (5.48) and digs per game (2.99). She has missed the last four matches after suffering an ankle sprain on Oct. 11.
“Lynnette will be back in the lineup this weekend,” said Shymansky. “It’s important that we get Lynnette back into the game and into the rhythym of our offense. There’s no question that our team stepped up and responded very well in her absence, but we’re going to need to put our best six out on the court every night and Lynnette is one of those six.”
“This should be a fun weekend,” said Shymansky. “We are back to full strength and everyone is healthy, and we are excited to be back home and playing in front of our home crowd.”
