University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Georgia Tech
Carolina Falls 3-1 To Georgia Tech
September 21, 2007 | Volleyball
Sept. 21, 2007
Chapel Hill, N.C. - Carolina fell behind early Friday night against Georgia Tech in Carmichael Auditorium but appeared as if it would even the match at 2-2 before the Yellow Jackets sealed the victory with a 30-26 game four win. Brianna Eskola reached the 30 dig mark for the first time in 2007 with a team-high 33 in the loss. Carolina will have a chance to rebound right away on Saturday when it hosts Clemson at 6 p.m.
The Tar Heels found themselves in a very early 2-0 hole on Friday night as the match appeared that it could be a quick one. Carolina would not quit though as it took a marathon game three 35-33 before falling 30-26 in a hard fought game four.
Georgia Tech cruised to the game one win with a 30-20 victory as the visiting Yellow Jackets never trailed. Georgia Tech hit .294 in the game, well above the .028 mark of the Tar Heels. Ulrike Stegemann set the tone in the opening game for the Yellow Jackets with seven kills on just nine attacks. Lauren Prussing and Sue Haydel each recorded three kills in the game one defeat.
The Tar Heels were behind by as many as five points in game two, including quite late at 24-19, but were able to stage an intense comeback to even the score at 26-26. Georgia Tech came out after a timeout to score the next three points to pull within one point (29-26) of securing a 2-0 lead. After a Megan Owens kill pulled the Tar Heels to 29-27 the Carmichael crowd of 835 helped push the Tar Heels back into a tie at 29-29 as Owens added another kill and Georgia Tech's Talisa Kellogg hit a ball out of bounds.
Georgia Tech regained its composure and control of the match as Nikki Kaminskas tallied back-to-back kills to give the Yellow Jackets a 31-29 game two win. Owens finished game two with seven kills and a .308 hitting percentage. Prussing chipped in six kills for the Tar Heels as Brianna Eskola dug out 13 balls in the game. Carolina hit much better in game two with a .250 hitting percentage but were still behind Georgia Tech's .260 mark.
Megan Owens continued her hot streak into game three as she tallied six kills with a .400 hitting percentage in UNC's dramatic 35-33 win to pull the match to 2-1. The game was tied a match-high 16 times and the lead changed hands on eight different occasions. The Tar Heels would have to battle back in game three as it did in game two as they trailed 27-25 late in the game. A kill by Heather Brooks and a Tech error evened the game for the Tar Heels as the momentum shifted to the Carolina side of the floor.
Georgia Tech's Lindsey Gray committed a service error giving Carolina a chance to serve out the game but the Yellow Jackets picked up a kill to tie the game once again. The second Talisa Kellogg kill in a row gave Georgia Tech a chance to win the match but a Michelle Kandell service error evened the score at 30-30. The teams traded kills over the next six points as the scoreboard jumped to 33-33. Lindsey Gray committed an attack error to give Carolina a chance to seal the game and that is exactly what Stephanie Jansma did as she stuck a pass from Ashley Board into an empty back row of the Yellow Jackets for the 35-33 win. Carolina outhit Georgia Tech .354-.333 in the game as Eskola picked up 13 more digs.
The momentum from game three carried over to game four for the Tar Heels as they jumped out to a 20-16 lead before a Georgia Tech timeout. The Yellow Jackets answered with four consecutive points to even the game at 20-20, but the Tar Heels answered with three of the next four points for the 23-21 advantage. Stegemann provided a boost for Georgia Tech as she served three consecutive points to give Tech the 25-23 lead.
A kill from Brooks and a service ace from Prussing evened the game at 25-25 before kills from Kellogg and Chrissy DeMichelis gave Georgia Tech a 27-25 lead. Three consecutive attack errors sealed the Tar Heels fate as the Yellow Jackets took game four 30-26 and the match 3-1.
Eskola fell six digs shy of her career-best mark of 39 with 33 on the night. Owens and Prussing finished the night with 15 kills apiece as Owens hit .290 and Prussing finished at .127. Senior Christie Clark finished in double-digits with 10 kills on 21 attempts for a .333 hitting percentage. Setter Stephanie Jansma doled out 53 assists in the defeat.
Clemson comes to Carmichael Auditorium on Saturday as the Tar Heels look to improve to 2-1 in the ACC. Saturday's match will begin at 6 p.m.
