Sept. 2, 2011
HOUSTON – Junior Monique Mead had 26 kills and 11 digs while freshman Ali Santi had 30 assists and 15 digs but the Georgia Tech Volleyball team (3-1) fell to Texas-San Antonio (1-3), 3-1 (20-25, 32-30, 20-25, 13-25) Friday afternoon at the Rice Invitational.
For Santi, it was her second straight double-double as she had her 30 assists and 15 digs in just over two sets today. Sophomore Kaleigh Colson saw her first action of the season as setter and recorded nine assists and four digs in one-plus sets of work.
Mead hit .203 en route to her second match this season with 20-plus kills. It was also her second double-double of the season. Senior Asia Stawicka had seven kills and a career-high 10 digs to go along with four total blocks. Junior Alexis Woodson and sophomore Jennifer Percy added five kills apiece while sophomore Ivona Kolak had a career-high four kills.
Freshman Zoey Morton made her first collegiate start and responded with a career-high 12 digs. Junior Nicki Meyer also had 11 digs. The Jackets hit .122 as a team while UTSA hit .271.
A sluggish start by the Yellow Jackets allowed UTSA to take an early five-point lead and Tech was never able to recover. The Roadrunners went up 10-5 and led by as many as seven points in the opening set. The Jackets got within a point once but were never able to come back. Dow 21-14, the Jackets made a 5-0 run to get within two points, but UTSA put the set away with four of the next five points. Tech hit just .116 in the opening set and was led by Mead’s five kills.
Georgia Tech fought off five different set points for UTSA to come back and win a wild second set 32-30. The Jackets built a 16-12 lead but saw the Roadrunners come charging back twice. After UTSA tied the set at 18, Tech went right back up 21-18. The Roadrunners responded with a 7-3 run to hold set point at 25-24 but Tech answered with two in a row to hold its only set point until it would be 31-30. Mead’s 12th kill of the set sent the Yellow Jackets into the break tied at one instead of down 2-0. The Jackets hit .228 in the set.
UTSA came right back to win the third set, however, and Tech was in a 2-1 hole for the match. The Roadrunners built up an early six-point edge and the Jackets never got any closer than three the rest of the way as they hit just .086. Mead led the way again with five kills.
In the fourth set, Tech again got into an early hole and was unable to recover. UTSA raced out to an early 9-4 lead and forced the Jackets into a timeout. That did not slow down the Roadrunners, however, UTSA got its lead up to as many as eight points before Tech tried to mount a run and get back into the set. The Yellow Jackets got as close as five points, but UTSA went on to win 25-13 and take the match in four sets.
The Rice Invitational continues tomorrow as the Yellow Jackets will take on Houston Baptist (Noon ET) and Rice (8 p.m. ET). Fans can follow all of the action with live stats at RamblinWreck.com.
