Volleyball wins two of three at Michigan Invitational

The tournament title was within the grasp of the Jackets, but crucial game-ending mistakes and home-court disadvantage contributed to a loss against Michigan.

"We really played good matches against Temple and Utah Valley. It felt like we really beat the teams. It's a nice feeling to win 3-0. Even against Michigan, we had a great game. We played together as a team, and we played well. It was a tough loss, but you can see... what we're really going to do this year with our team," said Ulrike Stegemann, the senior rightside hitter.

Tech stole away the opening game of the final match and took away the cheer from the crowd by posting a 30-17 win. Lindsey Gray, Ulrike Stegemann, Talisa Kellogg and freshman Mary Ashley Tippins all led the offense in the first match. This match marked the seventh straight start for the freshman.

"[Tippins] is doing a great job setting up right now and she's doing so well. You cannot tell that she's a freshman; she plays as if she's been on the team for years," Stegemann said.

After giving up the second game to the Wolverines, Talisa Kellogg motivated the rest of the swarm to not easily accept defeat. Kellogg posted back-to-back kills to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead in the series.

The Jackets were strutting along towards another victory when, during the third match, with a 25-24 lead, Tech committed three back-to-back errors and allowed the opponent to stomp away with the victory. Tech also lost in the tiebreaker game, 12-15.

"They were a pretty good crowd and some funny hecklers. They weren't that bad and even when I play, I just drop out everything that's around me....When you're playing away and it becomes that time when they say something to you, you just block it out, so I really don't hear what they're saying," Stegemann said.

Tech demonstrated a very tough front from all sides of the court that night. Three Jackets were named to the all-tournament team: Stegemann, Gray and Kellogg, who had a combined 54 kills and 47 digs. Also noteworthy, Tippins recorded a whopping 52 assists and 18 digs.

"I feel pretty good about the whole weekend," Stegemann said.

The Jackets also ran over their other opponents, the Temple Owls and the Utah Valley State Wolverines in 3-0 shut-outs. Michelle Kandell showed out against Utah Valley with an impressive record of 21 kills and 21 digs apiece.

Tech stopped Temple's offensive attacks by winning each game with at least an eight-point lead. Furthermore, Callie Miller contributed to the win with nine kills and a high .818 hitting percentage.

"Since the beginning of the season until when we played Michigan, we've made so many improvements. When we played against Temple and Utah Valley, we were really focused from point one to point 30. We struggled with that last year, but this year you can really see where we're focusing on what we really want to do," Stegemann said.

The team travels to N.C. to face off against UNC and N.C. State.