Sept. 22, 2005
Entering the Atlantic Coast portion of its schedule having won 20 consecutive conference matches, the Georgia Tech volleyball team (3-5) begins ACC play Friday when the team hosts Wake Forest (7-2) at 7 p.m. Friday and Duke (6-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday in O’Keefe Gymnasium.
Both matches will be broadcast on WREK Radio (91.1 FM) and may also be heard at www.wrek.org. In addition, fans may follow livestats at www.ramblinwreck.com.
Friday, the Yellow Jackets will host Wake Forest at 7 p.m. in a match that marks the 25th meeting between the Demon Deacons and Tech with the Jackets leading the series, 18-6. Tech defeated Wake Forest in both of their meetings last year, and has won the last 11 matches against the Demon Deacons and also 18 of the last 20. The Demon Deacons are under the direction of first-year coach Heather Kahl, who spent the last five seasons as the top assistant at Wake Forest.
“Wake Forest has some strong senior leadership and the addition to a new outside hitter in Lauren Peterson,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “They’ve experienced early success in the season under their new coach thus far and we’re anxious to see what they are capable of doing in our own gym Friday night.”
The Jackets and Duke square off Saturday in a match that will be televised by Fox Sports Net South on a tape-delay basis and is scheduled to be aired Oct. 2 at 4:30 p.m. Saturday’s match marks the 45th meeting between the Blue Devils and the Jackets, with Duke holding the edge, 28-17. Tech defeated the Blue Devils in both of their meetings last year, and has won six straight meetings.
Duke is led by two-time ACC Player of the Week Carrie DeMange, who is leading the team with 4.84 kills per game and 1.45 blocks per game. In addition, setter Ali Hausfeld leads the team and the ACC in assists per game (12.71) while libero Jenny Shull is averaging 5.00 digs per game.
“Duke is a team on a hot streak and their sophomore connection between Ali Hausfeld and Carrie DeMange has been very potent for them so far this year,” Shymansky. “They also play strong defense and have strong outside hitters to help terminate the ball. We’ll need to play well on Saturday night to give Duke a run and look forward to the challenge.”
The Yellow Jackets have been led by several players this year including Talisa Kellogg, who leads the team with 3.31 kills per game and Lindsey Laband who leads the team with 11.42 assists per game. In addition, Callie Miller leads the team in blocks per game (1.17) while Ulrike Stegemann is leading the team in hitting percentage (.237) and Jennifer Randall is leading the team in digs per game (3.67).
“In a lot of ways, we feel like our season is just starting,” said Shymansky. “We are 0-0 just like everybody else in the league and we really want to go after the title this year. We are picked to finish second in the conference and we believe that we can compete for it with a great effort so it’s very important to get off to a good start. I think playing at home in O’Keefe this weekend will be an advantage, especially against teams like Wake Forest and Duke.”
