Oct. 3, 2004
Lauren Sauer recorded 15 kills and hit .520 to lead the Georgia Tech volleyball team to a 3-0 (30-23, 30-22, 30-25) win at Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Jackets improve to 9-5 on the season, 4-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference action while the Hokies fall to 8-7, 3-1 in ACC competition.
The Yellow Jackets will return to action Friday when they travel to play at Wake Forest at 7 p.m. in Winston-Salem, NC.
“Lauren Sauer had a gutty performance today, literally,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “She was sick before the match but stuck it out and put together one of her best offensive performances of the season. We also showed a lot of good team balance today offensively and our block and defense continues to improve. It’s important for us to win on the road in conference play and competing against Virginia Tech for the first time was a challenging experience.”
Offensively, the Jackets hit .328 in the match and held Virginia Tech to a .193 percentage.
For Tech, Lynnette Moster had a match-high 19 kills and recorded a .289 hitting percentage while Jayme Gergen had 11 kills and hit .476. Gergen was followed by Laura Kuhn who posted nine kills and hit .312. Lindsey Laband ran the offense, recording 52 assists in the match to move into ninth place on the Jackets’ career assist list.
Defensively, Tech had 57 digs in the match as Marisa Aston recorded 16 digs and Abby Showers followed with 10. At the net, the Jackets were solid, posting 7 blocks in the match. Gergen and Moster led the team with three total blocks a piece, followed by Ulrike Stegemann and Laband who each had two block assists.
The Hokies were led by Allie Kupec who had nine kills and hit .300 in the match.
Game one started off close, with both teams trading points back and forth until the match was tied at 11-11. The Jackets took a 12-11 lead on a solo stuff block from Sauer, but the Hokies responded with a setter dump which landed in the middle of the court. After the setter dump, Tech picked up their defensive intensity which allowed them to score on a kill from Sauer, a solo block from Moster, a deep kill from Moster and a kill on an overpass from Stegemann giving the Jackets a 16-12 lead and forcing Virginia Tech into a timeout. Immediately after the timeout, the Jackets scored on a stuff block from Stegemann and Laband and a kill behind the setter from Stegemann giving Tech a 18-12 lead. Tech stayed in control the remainder of the game, scoring the final point of the game on a kill in front of the setter from Stegemann by the score of 30-23. In the game, Moster led the way with seven kills while Gergen added four. The Jackets recorded 21 kills in the game and hit .265 while holding the Hokies to only 11 kills in the game and a .079 percentage.
With the game tied at 2-2 at the start of game two, the Jackets went on a 5-0 run to take a 7-2 lead and forcing the Hokies into a timeout. Behind the serving of Randall, Tech scored on two kills from Stegemann, a ball handling error from Virginia Tech’s setter and a backrow kill from Showers. After the timeout, the Hokies scored on a kill from Allie Kupec, but Moster responded with a cross-court kill of her own making the score 8-3. With the score 12-8, Sauer pounded a ball into the middle of the court and then Tech scored on two straight kills from Moster and a service ace from Randall to make the score 16-8. The Hokies pulled to within four points with kills from Spicer and a blocking error from Moster, but a service error from Spicer and then a hitting error out of bounds by Colette Ramirez gave the Jackets a 24-18 lead. With the score 27-20, Gergen posted a kill and then teamed with Kuhn on a stuff block to give the Jackets a 29-20 lead. A cross court kill from Sauer was the final point needed as Georgia Tech won 30-22. In the game, Sauer recorded seven kills while Moster added five. The Jackets hit .326 in the game while holding the Hokies to a .225 percentage.
The Jackets came out on fire in game three, building a 12-7 lead on kills from Moster, Gergen, Kuhn and several unforced errors by the Hokies. But, Virginia Tech climbed their way back into the game, tying the score at 13-13 on a kill from Katie Esbrook, a reception error from Moster and a hitting error from Moster into the Hokie block. With the score 19-18, the Jackets pulled away in the game, scoring on two kills from Moster and a stuff block from Moster and Gergen making the score 22-19. At 23-20, Spicer recorded an error and two straight kills from Sauer gave Tech a 25-20 lead. It would be all the Jackets would need, as they scored the final point of the match on a cross court kill from Sauer to win the game 30-25.
