Hokie Volleyball Sweeps Yellow Jackets At Home

By David Cooper
September 27, 2008

The Virginia Tech Lady Hokies squared off against the Georgia Tech Lady Yellow Jackets in front of a rowdy crowd in Cassel Colliseum, Saturday. Over the past two matches, 878 fans have supported the Hokies in their efforts to push their conference record to 3-0.

"The crowd being into the game is really nice, and we can rally off their energy," said Justine Record, freshman outside hitter. 

In the first game the Yellow Jackets came out hot and took a very early 3-0 point lead.  Betsy Horowitz showed up and delivered a kill for the first Hokie points, and Kristen Cunningham followed up with a kill of her own to cut the lead to one. 

Georgia Tech then extended its lead to 10-4.  The Hokies began to match the Yellow Jackets point for point before mounting a comeback behind Taylor Parrish's three kills, including the final kill to put Virginia Tech over Georgia Tech 1-0 in the match.

The second set went back and forth the entire way through.  If Cunningham got a kill, Georgia Tech made one on the ensuing volley.  If Georgia Tech committed an error, Virginia Tech committed an error the next volley. 

Twelve ties, two lead changes, and an essentially even shooting percentage between the two teams made the second set the most astonishing of the night.  The Hokies in the end came out the victor as they got a few kills from Parrish to push them to a 25-22 win in the second game, and 2-0 set lead on the night.

Coming out of the break, Georgia Tech rallied behind what they thought were blown calls by the referees and took a heavily marginal lead of 7-1, the largest of the night.  Tech clawed back due to good setting from freshman Erin Leaser and powerful kills from Horowitz, Cunningham, and Felicia Willoughby to push the Yellow Jacket lead to 10-8. 

With good kill positioning from Jill Gergen and a crucial match point error committed by Georgia Tech, the Hokies went on to take this match in three sets, the last set by a score of 26-24. 

"We are playing pretty well, and playing pretty consistently so far, and we can't have our heads too big going on the road," Coach Chris Riley said of the level of intensity his team is playing at.

Two sweeps against conference rivals pushes the Hokies' record to 12-2.  Virginia Tech looks to continue its ACC play on the road with 4 consecutive away matches: Maryland, Boston College, UNC and NC State.  Tech will face Maryland next Friday night at College Park.

NOTABLES
GEORGIA TECH

·      Talisha Kellogg: 18.5 points, 18 kills, 4 digs, 1 assist, .400 shooting percentage

·      Chrissy DeMichelis: 9.5 points, 2 digs, 1 assist, 1 block

·      Brittany Roderick: 6.0 points, 6 kills, 1 assist, .556 shooting percentage

VIRGINIA TECH

·      Taylor Parrish: 19.0 points, 18 kills, 1 assist, .593 shooting percentage

·      Betsy Horowitz: 13.0 points, 12 kills, 2 digs, .750 shooting percentage

·      Erin Leaser: 7.5 points, 39 assists, 5 digs, 1.000 shooting percentage