ATLANTA (Oct. 18) – Continuing their conference road swing, Georgia Tech’s volleyball team heads to Tobacco Road to face NC State and North Carolina this weekend for a pair of important league matches.
The Yellow Jackets (13-8, 3-5) will face the Wolfpack (11-13, 2-6) in Raleigh at 7 p.m. Friday, in a battle for fifth place in the conference. NC State is coming off of a loss to Florida State over the weekend. Earlier in the season, the Wolfpack upset the Yellow Jackets for the first time in eight years in a five-game match in Atlanta, Ga.
On Saturday, Tech will face North Carolina (15-3, 7-0), currently atop the league standings. The Tar Heels enter the match with a 12- match winning streak, including a defeat of 13th-ranked Clemson. UNC won the first meeting in Atlanta, defeating the Yellow Jackets in four games.
“A lot of ACC teams are bunched together and jockeying for better positioning in the conference standings,” said head coach Shelton Collier. “After pushing league leader Carolina to five games and beating us on our home court, NC State is a team that will be a factor this year. We need to get back on the winning track after losing two this past weekend, so Friday’s match will be very important.”
Tech enters the week having lost its last two matches on the road against Virginia and Maryland.
The Maryland match did see the return of Christine Shelby (Joliet, Ill.) who had been sidelined for nearly six weeks following an appendectomy in September. In that match, Shelby collected seven kills, 15 digs, and three block assists.
“I thought that Christine showed a great deal of determination in her first match back for us,” said Collier. “I was very impressed with her skills and stamina after being out for so long recovering from her surgery. Having her back will really help us.
“We have experimented with Ky Bell (Rocklin, Calif) as a leftside hitter in our lineup, and she responded well with a great match last Saturday,” said Collier. “We expect that she will play some on the leftside this weekend, which will be a boost for our offense. I was so impressed that she made the change so easily. Ky has been a real bright spot for us all season.”
