Aug. 28, 2010
Interview With Jordan McCullers and Mary Ashley Tippins
ATLANTA – Senior Jordan McCullers recorded her 1,000th career dig as the Georgia Tech Volleyball team (1-1) swept Alabama A&M (0-2), 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-14), Saturday afternoon at O’Keefe Gym in the Courtyard Marriott Classic. The Yellow Jackets will now face UAB to close out the tournament tonight at 7 p.m.
“I was proud of how we bounced back from last night,” said head coach Tonya Johnson. “Today was a good all-around match and I think we did a much better job of finishing. Now, we need to turn our attention to a good UAB team with a quick turnaround tonight.”
Sophomore Monique Mead had a match-high 13 kills on .750 hitting as the Yellow Jackets hit .404 as a team and held Alabama A&M to a .062 clip. Junior Asia Stawicka had 11 kills for Tech while hitting .550. Junior Bailey Hunter added seven kills and three service aces, while McCullers added 13 digs and seven assists. Sophomore Nicki Meyer had a career-high five digs, while freshmen Jennifer Percy and Ivona Kolak tallied their first career kills.
The Yellow Jackets easily won the first set, 25-11, behind four kills apiece by Mead and Stawicka. Tech raced out to an 8-4 lead forcing an Alabama A&M timeout, but that would be as close as the Bulldogs could get. The Jackets hit .407 in the set and held Alabama A&M to a -0.77 clip.
The second set was much of the same as the Jackets scored the first eight points before the Bulldogs got on the scoreboard. A&M could never muster a run and Tech went on to win 25-15 and take a 2-0 advantage in the match. Tech hit an identical .407 for the set while Alabama A&M hit .107. Stawicka and Carlson led the Jackets with four kills.
The third set was close for the first third of it until the Yellow Jackets began to pull away and ended up closing out on a 13-6 run to win 25-14.
The Yellow Jackets close out play in the season-opening Courtyard Marriott Classic against UAB tonight at 7 p.m. If you can’t make it out to O’Keefe Gym, follow all of the action online with video, audio and stats at RamblinWreck.com. Both matches will also be broadcast on WREK, 91.1 FM in Atlanta.
