Oct. 5, 2006
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech volleyball team hits the road for a pair of matches at Maryland and Boston College this weekend, seeking its first Atlantic Coast Conference wins of the season. The Yellow Jackets (8-6, 0-4 ACC) meet Maryland (7-7, 0-5 ACC) Friday at 7 p.m. at the Comcast Pavilion in College Park, Md. before traveling to Chestnut Hill, Mass. for a 1 p.m. matchup against the Eagles Sunday afternoon.
Livestats for both matches will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
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The Jackets stand second in the conference in hitting percentage (.275) and are led by middle hitters Erin Birmingham (.346) and Ulrike Stegemann (.342) while sophomore Talisa Kellogg is pacing the Jackets with 3.42 kills per game. Birmingham and Stegemann rank second and third, respectively, in the league in hitting percentage.
Sophomore setter Allie Niekamp is fourth in the ACC in assists per game (11.61) and also ranks fifth with 0.44 service aces per game, which is three spots behind junior Lindsey Gray, who stands second (0.47 SApg).
The Yellow Jacket defense is anchored by senior libero Abby Showers, who stands eighth in the league with 3.83 digs per game, while middle hitters Birmingham, Callie Miller and Nikki Kaminskas are all averaging over 1.00 block per game.
Tech and Maryland will be meeting for the 43rd time in history, with the Terps holding a 23-19 edge in the series. Maryland is 12-6 against the Jackets in College Park, but Tech is 6-3 vs. the Terrapins under head coach Bond Shymansky.
The Jackets and Eagles have met on just four prior occasions, with Tech winning three of the four meetings. Boston College won the last contest, 3-1, in the only match between the two teams that has been played on the Eagles’ campus.
Following the matches this weekend, Tech will return to Atlanta for a pair of ACC matches next Friday and Saturday, beginning with the North Carolina Tar Heels at 7 p.m. Friday evening.
