Nov. 28, 2003
Despite 17 kills, six blocks and a .318 hitting percentage from Lauren Sauer, the No. 9 Georgia Tech volleyball fell to host Long Beach State Friday night, 18-30, 30-26, 23-30, 30-21, 12-15. With the loss, Tech drops their second straight match and falls to 30-3 on the season while the 49ers improve to 19-9 on the season.
Tech’s offense never got going in the match, as they were held to a season-low .215 on the night. Lynnette Moster had a team-high 18 kills in the match and was followed by Alexandra Preiss who had 13 kills, and Jayme Gergen and Laura Kuhn who each had nine.
At the net, Tech was solid, recording 15 total blocks to Long Beach’s nine. Kuhn had a career high 6 block assists in the match and Preiss recorded 8, followed by Gergen who had 6. Defensively, Tech was outdug by the 49ers 75 to 63. Moster led the team with 15 digs, followed by Marisa Aston who had 14 and Keight Vincent who had 10.
Long Beach was led by Rosie Lewis who had 19 kills and hit .273 and Heather Laudato who had 16 digs in the match.
The first game was dismal, as the Jackets were held to a bleak .108 hitting percentage. The team fell behind early, as the 49ers built a 14-5 lead on several hitting errors by the Jackets as well as serving and passing errors. Tech scored its fewest number of points in a game this season as throughout the game the serve reception struggled and the Jackets were never able to get into a rhythm. Long Beach increased its lead to 25-13 on a kill from Liz Hudson and never looked back, winning the first game 30-18.
The Jackets regrouped and played much better in game two as Tech outhit the 49ers .182 to .167. The score was knotted at 6-6 when the Jackets scored on a serving, hitting and passing error by Long Beach and took a 9-6 lead. Tech led by as much as four points, 13-9, on a kill crosscourt from Sauer, but the 49ers fought back and scored on ball handling error from Kuhn and a kill from Lewis to take a 19-18 lead. But, the Jackets responded on one of six kills in the game from Moster to tie the score at 19-19. With the score tied at 21-21, Sauer and Gergen recorded one of Tech’s five blocks in the game and then Gergen served an ace, giving Tech a 23-21 lead. Tech held on to the lead and went on to win the game, 30-26 on a stuff block from Gergen and Kuhn.
The game was tied at 8-8 when Lewis and Mazzarella each recorded kills to give the 49ers a 10-8 lead. The Jackets cut it to 10-11 on a kill from Sauer, but that was as close as Tech got. Long Beach built a 15-10 lead on hitting error from Moster. Tech fell behind by as many as nine points and went on to lose, 30-23 on a poor set to Sauer from Preiss.
Tech came back in the fourth game and hit .353 in the game as Moster connected on five kills in the game. With the score tied at 5-5, Moster recorded two straight kills, Eveland notched two service aces and Kuhn and Preiss connected on a stuff block to give Tech a 10-5 lead. The Jackets’ block was the difference in the match, as Tech recorded five total blocks in the game while the 49ers only tallied one. Tech continued to play well and scored the final point of the game on a kill down the middle from Preiss and won 30-21.
Tech jumped out to a 3-0 lead in game five on kills from Kuhn and Gergen and a solo block from Sauer. But, it was the largest lead Tech would hold in the game as two straight kills from Lewis and two kills from Mazzarella tied the score at 4-4. Tech led again, 5-4 on a kill from Sauer before two straight hitting errors from the Jackets made the score 5-6. Tech tied the score at 9-9 on a kill from Sauer, but Long Beach came right back as a bad pass forced Eveland into the net and made the score 9-10. The Jackets made the score 12-14 on a kill crosscourt from Sauer, but a net violation by Eveland gave Long Beach the final point of the game, 15-12.
The Jackets will return to action Saturday when they take on San Jose State at 8:30 p.m. ET.
