Volleyball beats Duke and Wake
Nick Babladelis/Old Gold and Black
Lauren Sauer records a kill for the Jackets over two blockers as Tech beat Wake Forest last Saturday in Winston-Salem.
Another weekend, another sweep of conference opposition for Tech volleyball. The Lady Jackets took care of business at Wake Forest on Friday (30-22, 30-14, 30-23) and Duke on Saturday (30-22, 30-21, 30-26). Tech moves to 6-0 in ACC play, 11-5 overall, to remain atop the conference rankings.
Tech also took home ACC Player of the Week honors, courtesy of Jayme Gergen. While this is the first time in her career she has been recognized as such, this marks the third consecutive week a Jacket has done so. Furthermore a player from the Tech squad has won the award in three of the six possible weeks this season.
The Jackets were simply dominant on defense, as they held the Deaks to a .096 hit percentage en route to a match sweep. Gergen and setter Lindsey Laband each posted two solo blocks, as Tech rejected nine overall. The team recorded 45 digs, with all-American Lynnette Moster pulling up 14 and Marissa Aston contributing 10.
Tech also brought their offensive A-game to Winston-Salem, posting a .318 hit percentage. Lauren Sauer had 16 kills on top of four solo blocks, as Moster represented with 13. Gergen pounded 10 kills with no errors on 14 attempts-a .714 hit percentage.
In match two of the weekend, Tech sent the Duke Blue Devils packing and won their ninth straight victory. Laband paced the offense with 52 assists, as Tech outhit Duke .360 to .175. Moster and Sauer took charge with 21 and 15 kills respectively as Gergen again posted zero hitting errors through 13 kills.
Preseason All-ACC member Aston anchored the defense with 17 digs, followed by Abby Showers with 10, with Tech posting 69 as a team. Sauer again dominated at the net with three solo blocks, and Moster also contributed two blocks of her own.
“Winning on the road is so important to us in conference play because we know we can defend well in our home gym. Lynnette played like an all-American again tonight but Jayme was simply unstoppable. Our defense kept us in the match and was the spark to our energy tonight,” Head Coach Bond Shymansky said as reported by RamblinWreck.com, “Our outside hitters were strong contributors in a great team performance. Duke has a lot of offensive weapons who were tough to contain.”
Volleyball continues its schedule at home this weekend, as they face-off against Virginia on Friday night at 7 p.m. and against Maryland on Saturday at 7 p.m.
