Oct. 7, 2011
ATLANTA – With a new-look lineup, the Georgia Tech volleyball team (9-7, 2-4 ACC) served their way to a 3-1 victory over Maryland (9-9, 3-3) on Alumni Night in front of a crowd of 980 fans at O’Keefe Gymnasium. The Yellow Jackets recorded 10 service aces on the night with Kaleigh Colson leading the way with three.
“It was nice to see us come out and play as a team tonight,” said Head Coach Tonya Johnson. “It was even nicer to see us win as a team. The pressure was on us tonight and I think that throughout the night we just kept gaining momentum, never losing it. I am proud of our effort. It was a total team effort.”
In addition to her three aces, Colson dished out 41 assists on the night to six different Jackets as Monique Mead lead the way with a match high 14 kills, five blocks and nine digs while Jennifer Percy aided the Tech offense with 10 kills of her own.
The first set was very back-and-forth between the two teams with each squad earning a large advantage. Maryland jumped out to the early lead, but some outstanding serving by Nicki Meyer and scrappy play, the Jackets erased a 6-7 edge and gave themselves an 11-7 advantage.
Maryland erased some of the Jackets lead with three-straight blocks and then the serving of Caroline Niski propelled them to the game one victory. The Terrapins recorded an outstanding 10 blocks in the first set to Georgia Tech’s two. Asia Stawicka led the way for the Jackets netting eight of her nine kills in the first set alone.
The Jackets fell behind early in the second set but battled back to bring the game within one. Quinn Evans, who stepped in to replace an injured Stawicka, rallied off four-straight serves giving the Jackets a 20-16 advantage which they maintained to even the match score up at one-all. Mead aided the Jackets with five kills and it was Georgia Tech that outblocked Maryland 4-2, some coming at key times to seal the victory.
The momentum continued in favor of the Jackets as they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead behind the serving of Susan Carlson and attacks by Mead and Ivona Kolak. Mead helped to extend that lead to 9-2 with some serving of her own just a couple of sideouts later. With Maryland edging back into the game, Kaileigh Colson rallied off two service aces in a row to bring the Jackets lead to 15-8. But it was Evans that continued to stun Maryland with her serving as she rallied off another five points to serve the Jackets to a 25-11 victory, giving Tech a 2-1 advantage. Mead added on another six kills, while the Jackets out blocked Maryland 6-0, while netting six service aces.
Set four was all Georgia Tech as the Jackets raced out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back.
Evans finished the night with three kills and four blocks, but her presence was felt all over the floor. In her third appearance of the season, Ivona Kolak also made an impact as she netted six kills, a block and five digs on the night.
The Yellow Jackets will return to action at O’Keefe on Sunday afternoon where they will round out their home stand with a game against Boston College at 1 p.m. Live video and audio for every Georgia Tech home match is available at RamblinWreck.com through the All-Access channel. Each home match is also broadcast on WREK, 91.1 FM in Atlanta.
