MATCH STATS
- Louisville (RV) def. Georgia Tech 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-19)
- Louisville moves to 13-5, 7-1 ACC; Georgia Tech falls to 8-11, 3-5 ACC
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Attendance:
- Box Score
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A dominating effort at the net and eight aces lifted Louisville to its sixth straight victory and a 5-0 home ACC mark on Sunday as the Cardinals topped Georgia Tech in a sweep.
UofL bested the Yellow Jackets in every statistical category: kills (44-331), hitting percentage (.283 to .151), aces (8-2), blocks (10-3) and digs (41-39).
Sophomore outside hitter Melanie McHenry notched a match-high 14 kills and redshirt sophomore outside Amanda Green followed with 10 putaways to lead the way for Louisville. Junior middle blocker Jasmine Bennett downed nine kills on a .438 hitting effort, while also registered a match-high five blocks. Junior libero Molly Sauer pulled up a match-best 12 digs, followed by senior defensive specialist Gabbie Wiley (8) and junior setter Wilma Rivera (8). Rivera also served up four of the team’s eight aces.
Sophomore middle Kodie Comby was tops among Georgia Tech players with nine kills, while three others tallied five or more. Senior middle Sydney Wilson (8), senior outside Gabriela Stavnetchei (6) and senior outside Ashley Askin (5) made up the group. Stavnethchei also turned in 10 digs, alongside freshman libero Sam Knapp for the team lead.
The Cardinals started the match with a bang, making just one error en route to a .455 hitting percentage, while jumping out to a 12-2 advantage. Four kills, a block and an ace by McHenry led the way in the early rally. Georgia Tech would get no closer than eight the rest of the way. A pair of Green putaways capped the 25-13 win.
The Yellow Jackets scored five of the first six points in Set 2 as Wilson and Stavnetchei downed two kills apiece. Georgia Tech went up by six at 16-10 with help from four Louisville miscues and three Comby putaways. The teams traded points leading to a 21-15 score, before the Cardinals turned it on with 10 straight points to steal away the 25-21 victory. Two kills and two blocks by Bennett, two McHenry kills and two Rivera aces aided the final run.
The teams played to a 15-all tie in Set 3, before Louisville broke away. The Cardinals put together an 8-2 run to vault ahead 23-17. Three Tech miscues and kills by Tess Clark, McHenry and Maggie DeJong aided the rally, which ended with a Sauer ace. A Rivera kill put UofL on the hill for the match at 24-18. A Comby kill stopped the Cards momentarily, but a Green putaway closed out the sweep.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Louisville Athletics
Outside hitter Melanie McHenry had 14 kills, an ace and three blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a 25-13, 25-21, 25-19 sweep of Georgia Tech in ACC volleyball action Sunday afternoon in Cardinal Arena.
Louisville improves to 13-5 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. The Cardinals hit .283 with eight service aces, 10 blocks and hit .283. Amanda Green added 10 kills and a block and Jasmine Bennett had nine kills and five blocks. Wilma Rivera had a match-high 32 assists and had four aces and two blocks. Georgia Tech (8-11, 3-5) hit .151 with two aces and three blocks. The Jackets were led by Kodie Comby’s nine kills and two aces.
“I thought we came out with a ton of energy, but the most impressive thing is we made adjustments throughout the match and didn’t let the same thing beat us more than once,” said Dani Busboom Kelly, UofL coach, whose team is 5-0 at home in ACC matches. “That’s a step for our team and they bought in and it shows.”
The Cards bolted out to an 8-0 lead in the first set, powered by Gabbie Wiley’s strong serving. Georgia Tech could not recover as the Cards used .455 hitting on top of the aggressive serving from the back line. McHenry had six of her 14 kills in that set.
In the second set, GT came out strong and took a 5-1 lead early on the Cardinals. UofL fell behind 11-6 before Busboom Kelly called timeout. The break did not swing the momentum back to the Cards and Busboom Kelly used her final timeout down 16-10. The Cards were down 21-15 before exploding for 10 straight points, nine of which came under setter Wilma Rivera’s rocket jump serve, two of which were aces as the Cards took the set 25-21 from a stunned GT squad.
“For her to have the run I think is huge for her confidence, and we see her do that all the time, it was great to see her do it in a match and change the course of that match,” said Busboom Kelly. “When you tie up with a team, you never know what’s going to happen after the break, so that was big. The players want to take the next step as a team, so it’s good to see them take care of that and not let Georgia Tech get that one off us.”
As fate would have it in the third set, Wilma Rivera was the first server in the third set and she ripped off two more aces before missing out of bounds. Georgia Tech steadied and then stayed close in the third set that saw 11 ties and six lead changes. Tied at 15, UofL went on a 10-4 run for the 25-19 win.
The Cards hit the road to play Miami on Friday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. and then head up to Tallahassee to take on Florida State for a 1 p.m. tilt.
“For us the key for our play is pretty much been the same thing, just being low error,” said Busboom Kelly. “You’ll see we’ll make some silly errors that in big games and that will cost you. Eliminating those and that starts in practice. “But a lot of the rest of our game is improving every match, so we just have to be low error.”
Courtesy: Georgia Tech Athletics
Georgia Tech volleyball (8-11, 3-5 ACC) fell to Louisville (13-5, 7-1 ACC) 3-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Head coach Michelle Collier says:
“I felt our middles had good game, but we needed to have contributions and a high-level performance from everyone in order to compete with a team like Louisville on their home court and we just didn’t do that. I am looking forward to a stretch of home matches coming up and being able to regroup and continue to get better.”
How it happened:
It was a slow start for the Jackets as the Cardinals tallied six unanswered points to start the match. Tech called a timeout to try to reverse the momentum but the Jackets were unable to get much going and Louisville took the set at 25-13.
Tech rebounded in the second, taking a swift 5-1 lead with back-to-back kills from senior Sydney Wilson. The Cardinals inched back in it but Tech responded, leading by as many as six at 20-14 with a kill from sophomore Kodie Comby. Louisville came to life and spurred a 10-0 run to overtake the Jackets and take the set at 25-21 for the 2-0 lead.
The two teams came out trading points in the third. Tying all the way to 15-15, Louisville broke out with a 7-2 run to steal the lead and took the set at 25-19.
Up next:
The Jackets return home to O’Keefe Gymnasium for alumni night, taking on Syracuse in a Friday night matchup at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20.
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