Jackets stun No. 25 Duke

The volleyball team stunned ACC opponents with wins over No. 25 Duke (23-30, 30-27, 15-30, 30-28, 24-22) and Wake Forest (30-25, 30-27, 25-30, 30-25) at the O'Keefe Gymnasium this past weekend.

"I believe one of the major factors going into this weekend was that we knew that we could feed off of the crowd. We knew that there would be a big turnout, thanks to our die-hard volleyball fans and leftover sports fans from the homecoming football game," said Lindsey Gray, Outside Hitter.

The match-up against Duke went into a fifth game after the two teams split the first four. The Jackets overcame an 11-point deficit to win game four by a score of 30-28 and force a game five against the tired Blue Devils.

"On Friday, there was excellent passing all around. [Duke] smoked us at their place and we wanted to get revenge," Gray said.

The Jackets defeated their opponent in a close fifth game 24-22. Gray had five of her 10 kills in the game. Callie Miller had a career high 18 kills and finished the night with a .412 hitting percentage.

"We have been working so hard on defensive plays: hitting the heck out of the ball. Abby [Showers] has been getting the ball out and delivering key plays," Gray said.

Following the homecoming football game, the Jackets were more than ready for Wake Forest on Saturday night. The Jackets defeated the Demon Deacons to improve their ACC record to 5-8 for the year.

Gray was impressive with a career high 21 kills and 15 digs on Saturday night.

Sophomore Talisa Kellogg added to the effort by recording 19 kills in the match.

"It's that time of the season when you start playing conference teams a second time around."

The first game of Saturday night ended with an intense match up between the teams.

Gray and junior Ulrike Stegemann led a 5-0 run to capture game one for the Jackets.

"If we made a mistake, we simply said 'No big deal; we can get the next serve.' We definitely did not hold on to the past and be so hard on ourselves. We have been working on the fundamental techniques and the basics all season. All of the hard work is finally paying off," Gray said.

The second game led to another Tech win for the night. Kellogg led the offense with eight kills, and Showers led the defense with six digs. Despite a three-point lead and nine kills delivered by Gray, the Deacons sneaked by the Jackets and forced a fourth game.

This did not have too much effect on the Jackets' self-esteem, though.

"We wanted another win after game three. We told ourselves 'Let's get it done and get out of here," Gray said. "We just brushed our shoulders off after game three because we knew that we could win the next game. The night was so exciting," Gray said.

In game four on Saturday night, the Jackets led the scoreboard the entire time.

After letting the Deacons close the gap to a single point, the Jackets swarmed past Wake Forest to take the victory.

Miller became the third Tech player this season to be awarded the ACC Volleyball Player of the Week. She added 27 kills and 10 blocks to her impressive season statistics.

The Tech volleyball organization raised money for the support of breast cancer awareness and research. "Dig for the Cure." last weekend's charity event, raised several thousand dollars for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

"The fundraising during the weekend did not add any extra pressure. It just gave us even more motivation to win and to make big money for the Breast Cancer Foundation in the Dig for the Cure event. There was big money to earn for the cure. That's a big motivation and makes us work even harder. Everyone's tired, and Sunday is our day off before we get ready to hit the road this weekend," Gray said.

The Jackets will play against the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. on Friday at 4 p.m. and against Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. on Sunday at 1 p.m.