Nov. 20, 2009
ATLANTA – Senior Chrissy DeMichelis, sophomore Bailey Hunter and freshman Monique Mead each had nine kills to lead the Georgia Tech Volleyball team (19-9, 13-5 ACC) to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-15) win over Virginia (12-17, 7-11) Friday night at O’Keefe Gym.
“We came out tonight and did a great job playing consistent, executing and finishing,” said head coach Tonya Johnson. “Those were all things we’ve been working on the last couple of weeks and need to do to take care of business. Now we turn our attention to a good Virginia Tech team. They are tough and will be ready to play tomorrow night.”
Mead led the way hitting .692 for the match and also added six total blocks to go along with her nine kills. DeMichelis added four digs in addition to her nine kills. Senior Brittany Roderick hit .438 en route to eight kills for the Yellow Jackets. Junior Mary Ashley Tippins had a match-high 31 assists and junior Jordan McCullers added 22 digs. Tech hit .275 for the night and had nine blocks.
In the first set, the Jackets raced out to a quick 6-1 lead and never looked back en route to the win. UVA never got any closer than four points and the Yellow Jackets went on to win 25-18. Roderick led the way in the opening stanza with four kills and Tech had four blocks as UVA hit just .152 compared to the Jackets’ .310.
In the second set, Virginia had its first lead of the match at 6-4 but it was short-lived. The Jackets went on a 6-1 run to take a 10-7 advantage and controlled the set from there on out to go up 2-0 in the match. A brief UVA spurt made it a 23-18 score late and forced a Tech timeout, but the Jackets went on to win 25-20. Hunter led the Jackets with six kills in the set as they hit just .143 but did have four more blocks. UVA hit .095 and also recorded four blocks.
The third set was tied at eight when Tech went on a major run to seal the win for the match. All told, the Jackets closed out the final stanza on a 17-7 run to get back on the winning track. Virginia used two timeouts during the run to try and slow down the Jackets but they weren’t able to.
The Yellow Jackets will play their final regular season home match tomorrow night at 7 p.m. against Virginia Tech. Prior to the match, Tech’s two seniors – Chrissy DeMichelis and Brittany Roderick – will be honored. Fans can listen to the match on WREK, 91.1 FM in Atlanta, and online at www.RamblinbWreck.com. Live stats will also be available via the Gametracker link.
