Nov. 22, 2008
ATLANTA – Allie Niekamp notched her eighth double-double of the season on a night when the Yellow Jackets honored their five seniors as Georgia Tech (20-9, 12-8 ACC) breezed to a 3-0 sweep (25-12, 25-19, 25-13) of Maryland (6-25, 2-17 ACC) Saturday evening at O’Keefe Gym.
The win gave the Yellow Jackets 20 victories for the third-straight season, and Tech eclipsed 20 wins for the sixth time since Bond Shymansky took over the program in 2002.
“Tonight was a great match for our seniors and our whole team,” Shymansky said. “Everyone competed and contributed, and those are rare moments in front of a packed house at O’Keefe. Our outside hitters did a great job of terminating the ball, and the steady play of our middles provided a balanced attack and a strong block.
“It was rewarding as a coach to watch our team play with joy and to capture another 20-win season.”
Chrissy DeMichelis led the Jackets with 13 kills against the Terrapins, but the match belonged to Tech’s seniors, who all had impressive showings on the evening.
Niekamp tallied 33 assists and 10 digs to go along with two block assists and a kill, while Michelle Kandell notched a match-high 17 digs to give her 1,494 digs for her career. Kellogg posted 10 kills, eight digs and three total blocks (two solo, one block assist) against Maryland, and Callie Miller added four kills, two digs and three block assists. Stephanie Robbins had six digs, two service aces, and a kill – on match point.
Jordan McCullers collected 10 digs to join Kandell in double figures, and Brittany Roderick tallied a match-best five block assists in addition to posting six kills in the match.
Tech held the Terrapins to a .009 hitting percentage, as the Terps committed 23 errors and recorded just 24 kills in the match.
DeMichelis hit .455 with seven kills and Roderick added three kills on four swings to lead the Jackets to a 25-12 win in the opening set. Tech hit .400, with 15 kills and just three errors on 30 attempts, while the Terps were held to a .000 hitting percentage (eight kills, eight errors) by the Yellow Jacket defense.
After the Terps used a 9-1 run to take a 17-16 lead in the second set, Tech closed out the frame by winning nine of the last 11 points to win, 25-19. The Jackets posted 5.5 total blocks to hold the Terps to a negative hitting percentage, and Kellogg led Tech with six kills and five digs in the frame.
The Jackets took a commanding lead in the third set and closed out the match on a 6-2 run, which was capped by Robbins’ kill on match point.
Georgia Tech will conclude the regular season next Friday when it hosts Clemson in a 4 p.m. match at O’Keefe Gym. Live stats will be available at Ramblinwreck.com.
–GT–
