Oct. 17, 2009
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Senior Chrissy DeMichelis had a season-high 20 kills, three solo blocks and hit .500 as the Georgia Tech Volleyball team (13-6, 7-2 ACC) defeated Virginia (7-13, 2-7), 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-15, 25-21) Saturday night at Memorial Gym.
“We challenged our team to come out and compete tonight after the finish we had last night against Virginia Tech,” said head coach Tonya Johnson. “We did some good things tonight and I’m happy we were able to get a solid win on the road.”
Junior Mary Ashley Tippins had her third double-double of the season with 49 assists and 12 digs, while junior Jordan McCullers had a team-best 14 digs for the evening. Sophomore Asia Stawicka had 12 kills, four digs and hit .409 for the Yellow Jackets, while sophomore Bailey Hunter added 10 kills to run her streak of at least 10 to 16 straight matches. Georgia Tech hit .250 for the night and held UVA to .130.
In the first set, the Yellow Jackets used an early 8-2 run to take a five-point lead. Virginia called a timeout, but was never able to get back in the set. Tech ran away for the 25-17 win and took a 1-0 lead for the match. DeMichelis led Tech with four kills in the opening set as the Jackets hit .308.
In the second set, Virginia had an early 7-5 lead but the Yellow Jackets responded with a run and opened up their own lead of 12-10. It was then the Cavaliers who reeled off four straight points to take the lead back at 14-12 and force a Tech timeout. Virginia later led 22-18 as Tech called its final timeout to try and mount a late rally, but it was unable to. The Cavaliers went on to the 25-20 win and evened the match at one apiece.
The team’s alternated points early in the third set before the Yellow Jackets took command of the frame with a 5-0 run. Georgia Tech held the lead for the remainder of the set, topping the Cavaliers, 25-15 and taking a 2-1 lead for the match.
The Yellow Jackets led for much of the fourth set and withstood a late Cavalier run to pull out the road win. Virginia strung together three points late in the set to pull within one, but it was not enough as Georgia Tech held on for a 25-21 win.
The Yellow Jackets now return home next weekend for their only appearances at O’Keefe Gym in nearly a month. On Friday, Oct. 23, Tech hosts Wake Forest at 7 p.m. and then Duke comes to town for a 7 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 24. Both matches will be broadcast on WREK, 91.1 FM in Atlanta and online at www.RamblinWreck.com.
The Duke match will be the fourth annual “Dig For The Cure.” Parents, fans, businesses and coworkers may pledge amounts for every dig the Yellow Jackets (as a team) record against Duke, or they can make flat donations to the cause. Georgia Tech marketing representatives will have a table set up in the lobby of O’Keefe Gym before both matches next weekend against Wake Forest (Oct. 23) and Duke to collect donations. For more information on the event, please visit the Volleyball page at www.RamblinWreck.com.
