Volleyball earns first ACC win of season

The volleyball team played in five games over the past two weeks and went 3-2 during that span. Tech defeated North Carolina and North Carolina State at home and Virginia Tech on the road, while dropping road matches at Clemson and Virginia.

Last weekend, Tech traveled to Virginia to take on the Hokies and the Cavaliers. The team started the trip on the right foot by sweeping Virginia Tech 3-0 (30-26, 30-20, 30-26) and picked up their first road ACC win of the season. Tech had previously been 0-4 in conference matches away from O'Keefe Gymnasium.

Sophomore setter Allie Niekamp paced the offense with 35 assists, and added 5 kills in 9 attempts with no hitting errors (.556 hit percentage). Callie Miller, Talisa Kellogg and Ulrike Stegemann each had 10 kills to pace the offense.

Afterwords, the team made the trip from Blacksburg to Charlottesville, Va. to face the Cavaliers. They fell behind early and their comeback bid fell short as they dropped the match 3-2 (22-30, 30-24, 22-30, 30-27, 12-15). Kellogg led the Tech attack with 14 kills while Miller added 11 kills and hit a season high .476. After tying the match 2-2, Tech saw Virginia jump out to a quick 8-3 lead in game five, before eventually falling to the Cavaliers.

Two weeks ago, Tech played host to a couple of North Carolina teams - the Tar Heels and the Wolfpack. With a six game ACC losing streak going into the weekend, the Jackets needed a couple of victories. The team swept North Carolina 3-0 (30-15, 30-27, 30-28) to earn their first ACC victory of the season. Kellogg led the attack once again with 15 kills while Lindsey Gray added 13 kills and 18 digs, her seventh double-double of the season.

"Our team knows that we are capable of performing like this, and even better, every night," said Head Coach Bond Shymansky as reported by ramblinwreck.com. "Our passing and defense was consistent and gritty, which allowed us to stay in long rallies, which eventually helped us wear down North Carolina. We are confident that we have put one streak to rest and have started a new streak, and our team is hungry to get even better."

The next night was more of the same from the Jackets, as they dropped North Carolina State 3-0 (30-20, 30-22, 30-18). Miller, the only Jacket to record double figure kills, had 10 kills to pace Tech

The following Tuesday, Tech traveled to Clemson for a mid-week matchup against the Tigers. Another sweep was in order, but this time the match would go against the Jackets 0-3 (23-30, 25-30, 27-30). Kellogg recorded 17 kills and hit .394 while Gray registered 16 kills. However, Tech allowed the Tigers to hit .305 and only hit .227 on the night.

This marks the halfway point of the conference season, and the Jackets current overall record stands at 11-10 and have posted a 3-8 conference record. Tech was predicted to finish 3rd in the conference in the preseason by the coaches but are 10th in ACC at the midway point.

Tech offense this season has been led by preseason All-ACC Kellogg who has posted 268 kills and leads the team with 3.53 kills per game. The most efficient hitter on the Tech team is Stegemann, a preseason All-ACC selection, who has posted a .327 hit percentage and averages just under three kills per game. The offense runs through setter Niekamp who is averaging 11.66 assists per game. In her first start of the season, Niekamp recorded a triple-double (10 kills, 44 assists, 10 digs) on Sept. 1 against Mississippi State.

Defensively, junior Nikki Kaminskas controls the net with 1.17 blocks per game while freshman Erin Birmingham has contributed 66 total blocks to lead the team. Senior Abby Showers has 310 digs on the season and averages 3.88 digs per game.

Tech begins the second half of the season tonight as they host the ACC leading Duke Blue Devils at 7 p.m. in O'Keefe Gymnasium. The Jackets will play Wake Forest on Saturday at 8 p.m. Saturday's game time was pushed back to allow fans to attend the match after the homecoming football game against Miami.