| TOP OF SITE | TOP OF ISSUE | TOP OF SECTION |
| PREVIOUS STORY | NEXT STORY |
|
Volleyball splits two games on season's final homestand By Matthew Memberg Enough about last week ATLANTA November 13, 1998
 Last weekend was the final home stand of the year for the Georgia Tech volleyball team (21-10, 9-5 ACC). It was also the biggest home stand of the year, as the Jackets were fighting for their NCAA lives. The results of the weekend were bittersweet, as the Jackets lost a heartbreaker to Virginia but then beat up Maryland for their ninth conference victory of the year on Senior Night on Saturday.
The match against Virginia was essentially a play-in match for the NCAA Tournament. Entering the match, Virginia was in third place in the ACC, and Tech was in fourth place. A Yellow Jacket win would have flip-flopped the two schools and put Tech right in the driver's seat for a NCAA berth; head coach Shelton Collier is certain that the top three ACC finishers will each receive invitations to the Big Dance.
Unfortunately, things did not work out that way. Virginia beat Tech in a tough five-game match to retain third place in the conference.
Characterizing the defeat as "crushing," Collier lamented that "the loss very well could have cost us any NCAA consideration."
The Jackets came out and executed their game plan perfectly in game one. When all the smoke cleared, Tech won the game 15-2. The team totaled 17 kills and committed no errors en route to a whopping .630 hitting percentage. Freshman Maja Pachale and junior Sara McKee had five kills each.
The Jacket offense struggled in game two, committing seven hitting errors and collecting only eight kills. Virginia took advantage of Tech's miscues and muscled into a 8-3 lead. The Jackets could not recover and lost game two 15-9.
Game three started out the same as game two, but this time, Tech was able to make a comeback. Led by senior Carla Gartner's intimidating front court presence and senior Aimee Boulet's failproof serving, the Jackets were able to battle back from a 7-1 deficit to tie the score at 10 apiece. Alas, the game slipped away, and Virginia won 15-13 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Pachale and McKee powered Tech to a 15-12 game four victory, thus forcing the decisive fifth game. It was a back-and-forth nailbiter, but Virginia held on to claim the match by winning game five 15-11.
"We had [Virginia] where we wanted them," said Collier about the match. "Our inconsistency came back to haunt us, and Virginia showed why they are one of the top teams in the ACC."
Tech took out their frustrations Saturday night against Maryland, winning in four games: 15-4, 15-10, 2-15, 15-4. The Jackets jumped out to huge leads in games one, three, and four and never really gave the Terrapins a shot at winning the match. Maryland's blowout in game three was made possible by Tech unforced errors, rather than Maryland offensive efficiency.
Sophomore Teryl Townsend had three kills in game one and four kills in game two to lead Tech to a two-games-to-none advantage. Freshman Kyleen Bell totaled eight block assists in the match, and Gartner added six block assists of her own. The Tech defense was outstanding, holding Maryland to a .091 hitting percentage on the night.
"Our players showed a lot of character by coming out and playing so well against Maryland," commented Collier.
The ACC Tournament gets underway next Friday at the University of Maryland. The Jackets have unfortunately not been able to solidify a NCAA Tournament bid in the regular season, so they must win the ACC Tournament in order to automatically qualify. This is something the team is certainly capable of; Tech has been in the championship match of the ACC Tournament in each of the past three seasons.
|
Copyright © 1998 by Gregory S. Scherrer, Editor and by the Student Publications Board
submit a letter to the Editor
e-mail the Sports Editor with a comment about this story
e-mail the Online Editor if there's a technical problem with this page