Oct. 11, 2003
Lynnette Moster recorded 15 kills and 12 digs as the No. 5 Georgia Tech volleyball team defeated Duke in three games, 30-21, 30-23, 30-27. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 18-0, 6-0 ACC while the Blue Devils fall to 6-12, 2-4 ACC.
“Our team definitely struggled at times offensively during the match tonight,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “But, where we struggled offensively, we made up for it with our defensive effort. Duke is one of the top teams in the nation defensively, and to out-dig them on their home court certainly makes a statement about our effort tonight. It’s always tough for us to win in Durham. Jayme Gergen was key for us tonight, with her blocking and had several kills for us at key points in the match.”
Jayme Gergen recorded 11 kills and a season-high six block assists while Lauren Sauer added 11 kills and two block assists. Jennifer Randall matched a career-high with three service aces and added six digs. Four Yellow Jackets finished the match with double-digit digs as Aston had 11 and Eveland and Vincent added 10.
The Blue Devils were led by Krista Dill who had 12 kills and five total blocks. Stephanie Istvan had 23 digs in the match.
The Jackets began the game somewhat sluggish, making several unforced errors and were not crisp on serve reception or on defense. With the score 9-8 Duke, the Jackets called a rare timeout. After the timeout, Tech went on a 14-7 scoring run and found a rhythm offensively, scoring on kills from Moster and Preiss and stuff blocks from Moster, Preiss and Eveland. The Jackets closed out the first game on a cross-court kill from Sauer to win, 30-21. In the game, Moster recorded five kills and hit .400 while Gergen followed with four kills and hit .571. Tech hit .333 in the game while holding the Blue Devils to a .103 percentage.
In game two, Tech fell behind 17-14 but mounted a charge with two straight stuff blocks, one from Gergen and Kuhn and the next from Gergen and Moster. A hitting error by Nani Meriweather gave the Jackets their first lead at 18-17 and Tech followed it up with a kill from Moster to take a 19-17 lead. After a Duke timeout, the Jackets scored on four unforced errors from the Blue Devils, giving Tech a 22-19 lead. A second timeout from the Blue Devils resulted in five points behind the serving of Jennifer Randall. During the scoring run, Gergen and Eveland combined for two stuff blocks, Randall served an ace, and Eveland recorded a kill off a dig from Aston. The Jackets continued to roll in the game and scored on a one-set kill from Preiss in the back right-hand corner of the court to win the game, 30-23. In the game, Moster and Sauer each recorded four kills while Gergen added three kills and four block assists.
Duke fought hard in the third game and outhit the Jackets .291 to .231. Tech led by as many as four points late in the game, 25-21, but the Blue Devils fought back scoring on kills by Meriweather, Gilman, Rufai and Salem to tie the game at 26-26. Tech responded with kills from Moster, Gergen and a solo block by Sauer to win the game, 30-27.
The Yellow Jackets will return to action Tuesday when they travel to Clemson, SC, to take on the Tigers at 7 p.m. in Jervey Gym.
