Nov. 6, 2011
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – With seven different Yellow Jackets tallying a kill, the Georgia Tech volleyball team downed Maryland 3-1 on the road to earn their 15th victory of the season and go over .500 in ACC play.
“I thought we competed well today,” said head coach Tonya Johnson. “We got a little tentative in set two, but we were able to get our composure back and play aggressive the rest of the match. We needed both of these matches this weekend and did a great job of earning the wins.”
Tech (15-11, 8-7 ACC) was led by Monique Mead who notched 29 kills for the second time this season. It was also the 13th time this season the Mead topped the 20-kill mark and the fourth-straight game she has done so.
Behind Mead’s kills, Kaleigh Colson dished out 51 assists, the second time this season that she has hit the 50 helper mark. It marked the eighth time that Colson has also had at least 40 assists in a match, the fourth-straight game she has done so, and the sixth time in the last seven games.
Jennifer Percy was second on the team with eight kills while Ivona Kolak and Alexis Woodson each chipped in seven. Woodson also had four blocks on the day. The Tech serving was also very strong as the Jackets had some service aces in key situations including three aces by Quinn Evans and two by Mead.
Maryland (9-18, 3-12) was led by Maddie Lee who had 14 kills on the day.
The Jackets started things off well jumping out to a 25-21 victory. The first set was very back and forth with 11 ties and eight lead changes until the end of the set when the serving of Evans erased a two point Terrapin lead and gave the Jackets a five point advantage. Evans notched three service aces during that time while Mead tallied two kills of her own. Mead finished the set with an unbelievable 10 kills, while Colson started her day off with 14 assists.
Set two went to the Terrapins who jumped out to a quick three point lead early and never looked back. The Terrapins extended their lead throughout the game and ended up with the 25-18 victory. Mead put up another three kills in the set as did outside hitters Percy and Kolak while Woodson tallied three blocks in the set. The Maryland offense was led by Lee and Caitlin Adams who had four kills each.
Set three was a tight game with the Jackets pulling out the 25-23 victory. Like set one there were many lead changes (five) and tied scores (10) including many down to the stretch. With Maryland up one (23-22), Johnson called a timeout which led to a sideout on a kill by Mead, an attack error by Maryland’s Lee and the game winning point on a service ace by Mead. Mead had yet another 10-kill performance in the third set while Woodson chipped in two of her own attacks and four other Jackets had a solo shot.
Tech ran away with set four. After letting Maryland out to a 4-2 lead, Tech bounced back tying things up at 9-all and then slowly built up a lead garnering a couple of points each time they stepped to the service line. Nicki Meyer capped things off with five straight serves to seal the 25-15 victory. Mead put up six assists in the set, making no errors and also recording five digs. Percy had four more kills while Woodson had three of her own and Kolak tallied two to give the Jackets their second-straight victory.
The Yellow Jackets will close out their four-game road trip with a weekend in North Carolina. The Jackets will take on UNC on Friday night at 5:15 p.m. — a schedule change made earlier this week from the original 7 p.m. game time. Tech will close out their road schedule with a TV game at NC State on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live via RSN.
