Nov. 26, 2010
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ATLANTA – Sophomore Monique Mead had 19 kills and a career-high 21 digs as the Georgia Tech Volleyball team (18-14, 11-9 ACC) defeated Clemson (18-13, 9-11), 3-2 (25-19, 18-25, 25-12, 17-15) on Senior Night Friday at O’Keefe Gym. Each team traded off decisive wins in the first four sets but a wild fifth set went to the Yellow Jackets in the regular season finale in front of a near-capacity crowd.
Senior Jordan McCullers moved into fourth place on the all-time Georgia Tech digs list with 13 tonight. She also had six assists for the Yellow Jackets. Senior Mary Ashley Tippins recorded her 13th double-double of the season with 52 assists and 15 digs while also adding seven kills. Junior Bailey Hunter and freshman Jennifer Percy had 12 kills apiece, while junior Asia Stawicka added 11 kills, five digs and four total blocks. Hunter also had four digs and five of the team’s eight service aces.
Sophomore Alexis Woodson had eight kills and hit .533 on the night and sophomore Susan Carlson added 12 digs. Georgia Tech hit .235 on the night and had six blocks. Clemson, meanwhile, hit .194 and had 13 blocks.
In the first set, each team went on an early 5-1 run but the Yellow Jackets opened things up a bit with a 7-2 spurt that put them up 13-8. Clemson was forced to play catch up for the rest of the match and never got any closer than two points as Tech went on to the 25-19 win. When Clemson pulled within two points at 18-16, Tech closed out the set on a 7-3 run to take a 1-0 lead for the match. Hunter led the Jackets with four kills in the set as they hit .308. Clemson hit .226 but used four blocks to stay in it.
Clemson scored the first six points of the second set as it looked to even the match up. The Jackets answered with four straight points but the Tigers soon had the lead back to five and never looked back en route to a 25-18 win. The Jackets were down by as many as nine points before making a late charge. Stawicka led Tech with four kills but the Jackets cooled off to just .182 in the set. The Tigers hit .270 and had four more blocks.
In the third set, Georgia Tech went on an early 5-0 run and never looked back en route to a 25-12 win. Clemson got within three points at 10-7, but Tech closed the set on a 15-5 run to take the 2-1 lead for the match. Mead led the Jackets with six kills in the set as they hit .310. Clemson, meanwhile, hit -.129.
The fourth set saw Clemson take momentum right back. The Tigers were up 10-6 early and every time the Jackets tried to chip away and make a run Clemson had the answer. The Tigers soon had their lead up to eight points before the Jackets made another late run. Georgia Tech got as close as four points at 21-17 but Clemson was able to close it out and send the match to a fifth set. Tech hit .209 in the fourth set led by six kills from Mead and five by Percy.
Georgia Tech opened up the fifth set on a 5-1 run but after a timeout, Clemson came right back with five straight points to take a 6-5 lead and force the Yellow Jackets into a timeout. That set the stage for a wild finish which saw the Yellow Jackets win 17-15 and take the match 3-2. After the Jackets came back to tie Clemson at six, Tech had three different two point leads and two match points, but saw Clemson come back and tie them up on each occasion. After the Tigers tied the set at 15, that would be it as the Jackets won the final two points to take the match.
