Oct. 22, 2001
Tech Volleyball Travels to Clemson to take on Tigers
Playing in their third match in five days, the Georgia Tech volleyball team (12-5, 7-3 ACC) returns to action on Tuesday when it visits the Clemson Tigers (6-12, 2-8 ACC) at 7 p.m. in Jervey Gym.
The Yellow Jackets are coming off a road trip to North Carolina in which Tech defeated Wake Forest in five games, but lost the following night to Duke in four games. Clemson dropped both of its matches to Wake Forest and Duke over the weekend.
“Clemson is a scary team for several reasons,” said head coach Shelton Collier. “First, they have some excellent talent, and secondly, they have suffered some disappointing losses in conference play thus far. Those two things can be a dangerous combination for an opponent to face.”
Tech has been led all season by senior outside hitter Pachale, who currently leads the team in kills with 287. However, over the weekend it was the play of Alexandra Preiss which shone. Against Wake Forest, the middle blocker tied the school record for blocks in a match with 11, and the following night posted a career-high 17 kills against Duke. In addition, freshman Lynnette Moster recorded a career-high 20 digs against the Blue Devils.
“We need to get more consistent performances from all of our key players,” said Collier. “Our setter, our hitters, and our defensive specialists all have had excellent matches and average matches recently. We need to really have a solid team effort on the road to win on Tuesday.”
In the previous meetings between the two schools, the Jackets easily defeated Clemson in Atlanta in three games, 30-15, 30-26, 30-16. Maja Pachale led Tech with 12 kills, followed by Kyleen Bell who had nine while Kele Eveland led the Jackets defensively with 16 digs. Ryane Beasley led the Tigers with eight kills while Jodi Steffes chipped in nine digs.
“They have some strong attackers in Beasley and Steffes, and their setter, Jessi Betcher has always been one of my favorite players in the conference so I expect a tough match,” said Collier.”
