Sept. 12, 2009
Post-Match Interview With Brittany Roderick
ATLANTA – Senior Brittany Roderick had eight kills, four digs and hit .300 en route to MVP honors as the Georgia Tech Volleyball team (7-2) beat Mississippi (6-4), 3-1 (23-25, 30-28, 25-18, 25-15) Saturday night to win the Courtyard Classic at O’Keefe Gym.
Roderick was joined on the All-Tournament team by sophomore Asia Stawicka, junior Mary Ashley Tippins and junior Jordan McCullers, who was tabbed the Libero of the Tournament.
“This was a great weekend and we battled throughout against three tough opponents.” said head coach Tonya Johnson. “There were some times when we struggled, but we were able to overcome a couple of obstacles and come through at the end. Mary Ashley [Tippins] had a great weekend distributing the ball and our middles also played well. We’ll come back Monday to work on some things, but overall I am pleased with the weekend.”
Sophomore Bailey Hunter had 15 kills and finished with 53 on the weekend. Freshman Monique Mead added 10 kills, six digs and five total blocks, while Stawicka contributed with 10 total blocks and six kills. Senior Chrissy DeMichelis added nine kills as well for Tech.
Set number one saw 10 ties and three lead changes as both teams were looking for the early advantage in the match. Tech scored the first three points, but Ole Miss quickly came back to take the lead. Later in the set, the Rebels led by two points at 20-18 only to see the Yellow Jackets come back and tie it up. The set was tied at 23, but back-to-back points by Ole Miss gave it the win. Tech hit just .056 in set number one as Hunter led the way with four kills.
The Yellow Jackets were down four points in set two, 12-8, setting stage for a wild ending. A 4-0 run by Tech quickly tied it and then the teams went back and forth until the Jackets opened up an 18-16 lead and forced an Ole Miss timeout. It was 20-17 in favor of the Yellow Jackets before five straight points by Ole Miss gave it the lead again and forced Tech to use one of its timeouts. When play resumed, the Jackets came back to tie the set at 23. Tech fought off five straight Ole Miss set points before a block assist by sophomore Asia Stawicka and Mead gave Tech the lead again, 29-28. After a timeout, an Ole Miss error gave the Jackets the much-needed win which evened the set. Hunter led Tech once again with seven kills.
Ole Miss led the third set 13-12, but Tech closed out the set on a 13-5 run to pull away and win 25-18 and take a 2-1 lead in the match. Mead had five kills in that third set to lead the Yellow Jackets as they looked to pull out the match.
Ole Miss led the fourth set 8-5 when the Jackets went on a 9-2 run to open up a four-point advantage at 14-10 and force the Rebels to call timeout. The Yellow Jackets did not slow down as it was soon 20-12 and Ole Miss used its last timeout to try and mount one last attempt to force a fifth and deciding set, but it would not happen as Tech closed out with a 25-15 win.
The Yellow Jackets will head back out on the road next weekend as they travel to Colorado to participate in the Denver Invitational. Georgia Tech will take on Denver at 9:30 p.m. (ET) on Friday, Sept. 18 and then Minnesota at 7 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, Sept. 19.
