Nov. 14, 2003
The No. 6 Georgia Tech volleyball team (27-1, 14-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) closes out its 2003 conference schedule with its final match at home in O’Keefe as the Yellow Jackets will face Clemson (17-14, 6-9 ACC) Saturday at 7 p.m.
Tech enters its final match of conference competition as the ACC regular season champions, having clinched the title in last week’s win over Wake Forest.
“It’s a good feeling to know that we will be the top seed in the upcoming ACC tournament,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “Our players and staff have worked hard to get to this point, but we still have a number of challenges ahead of us and can’t rely on what we’ve accomplished as we play our final home match this Saturday.”
The meeting with Clemson marks the 37th time the two teams have met, with the Tigers holding the edge, 23-14. Tech has won the last seven meetings against Clemson, including a 3-0 win earlier this season by the scores of 30-19, 30-28, 30-23. As a team, Tech hit .355 and were led by Lauren Sauer, who had 17 kills and hit .351 and Alexandra Preiss who had 12 kills and hit .364. Kele Eveland dished out 51 assists and Marisa Aston had a match-high 15 digs. The Yellow Jackets’ played solid defense, recording 7 blocks in the match and recording 54digs.
“Clemson is a very dangerous team when they are passing well,” said Shymansky. “They have two players in Leslie Finn and Ryane Beasley that when they get hot, are very tough for any team to stop. They played us very tough earlier this season and have won some good matches the last couple of weeks and are really on a roll as they come into our gym. Their coach always does a good job of having them ready to compete and I expect Saturday will be no different.”
Saturday’s match will also mark the final home match for seniors Kele Eveland, Alexandra Preiss and Keight Vincent.
“It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to honor our seniors Saturday night,” said Shymansky. “Each one of them has been such an important part of our program over the last four years and will surely be missed next season. Hopefully our team will work extra hard to make the night a special one for them.”
