Sept. 23, 2005
Behind a career high 16 kills and .424 hitting percentage from freshman outside hitter Talisa Kellogg, the Georgia Tech volleyball team defeated Wake Forest 3-1 (25-30, 30-27, 30-25, 30-26) in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener Friday night. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 4-5, 1-0 ACC while the Demon Deacons fall to 7-4, 0-2 ACC.
“We had a gritty win tonight and it was rewarding to watch our team with their sweat on the court to grind out a victory,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “Our offense is finally starting to click as players are solidifying their spots in our lineup and on our team. Our freshmen Callie and Talisa played near flawless volleyball and Ooli was a terminating force on the front row. I’m most proud of our defensive effort tonight and the performance by Jennifer for her inspired play for her teammates and her home crowd.”
The Yellow Jackets offense was the difference in the match, hitting a season-high .278 on the night while Wake Forest hit .227. In addition to Kellogg, four other Georgia Tech players ended the night with double-figure kills including middle blockers Callie Miller and Nikki Kaminskas who each had 13, Ulrike Stegemann who recorded 12 kills and Laura DeMichelis who added 11. Miller’s hitting percentage on the night was a career-best .588 while Stegemann ended the night with a season-best .429. Lindsey Laband ran the offense, posting a season-high 60 assists on the night.
Defensively, Jennifer Randall tied her career-high with a match-high 23 digs. She was followed by Laband and Abby Showers who each recorded eight digs in the contest. At the net, Tech finished with 11 total blocks as Kaminskas tallied five block assists while Kellogg and Miller each had four.
Wake Forest was led by Jessica Furlong and Jackie Lucas who each had 13 kills in the match while Erin Borhart recorded a triple-double with 10 kills, 31 assists and 10 digs.
The Yellow Jackets will return to action Saturday when they host Duke at 7 p.m. in O’Keefe Gymnasium.
