Volleyball Suffers First Loss Of The Season
10/7/2005 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2005
ATLANTA, Ga. - The Terps suffered their first loss of the season in a harrowing five-game loss to rival Georgia Tech tonight in O'Keefe Gymnasium in Atlanta. The Terps fell 30-22, 26-30, 30-17, 24-30 and 17-19. The loss leaves Maryland 14-1, (5-1 ACC) and Georgia Tech 7-6 (3-2 ).
The Terps were kept to .174 in hitting percentage overall for the match with Georgia Tech's hitting percentage at.143. Georgia Tech's offense had a slight edge with 62 kills for the match to Maryland's 59.
For Maryland, Jade Brown had 14 kills for the team and Wagener led with blocks at 13 Stephanie Doiron led the team in digs with 15. On offense, Mary Beth Brown had 11 kills, and both Rachel Wagener and Beth Gillming had ten. Both Wagener and Gillming posted double-doubles for the match.
Georgia Tech consistently fought for points posting a total of 56 digs for the team with the crowd of 1,215 behind them.
After a tie 8-8 in the first game, Maryland took charge and was up 15-10 before Georgia Tech answered back. Taryn Papp's strong serving brought the Terps ahead to 21-15 and advanced the lead with some errors by Georgia Tech. A kill by Wagener brought the score to 29-22 before Maggie Schmelzle closed out the game with an ace for a 30-22 final score.
In the second game, the Yellow Jackets caught Maryland off balance and a kill by Callie Miller brought the game to 2-7 when Coach Janice Kruger called a time out. Maryland evened up the score with kills by Jade Brown and Gillming to bring the game to its first tie at 17-17. The Terps fell behind again when Georgia Tech's Callie Miller scored another kill to another tie at 25-25 before falling 26-30 to the Yellow Jackets.
Maryland came out strong in the third game and went on a five-point run to go 20-11. A strong offense was put forth by Mary Beth Brown and Wagener late in the third brought the score to 27-14. Jade Brown and Wagener had a key block to go up 28-14. Tech's outside hitter Talissa Kellogg's serve was long to go up 29-17 when Beth Gillming provided the final kill to win the game 30-17.
The fourth game was a difficult test for the Terps as they led by a margin of only one or two. At 11-9, Georgia Tech's defense proved tough for the Terps and Georgia Tech's offense was coming together with the Yellow Jackets slipping ahead to 14-20. Georgia Tech never relinquished the lead at that point with some key blocking and resolve to win the match 24-30.
Maryland led at the onset of the final game, 5-1. But Tech would not give up and the Terrapins had some errors to bring the game to a 10-10 tie. The Terps had two game points to win in the fifth and final set at 15-14 and 17-16, but a kill by Kellogg and a blocking error by Maryland ultimately landed the Terps their first loss with the final score 17-19.
Maryland faces the Clemson Tigers (7-4, 3-2 ACC) Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. Clemson is coming off a loss to Boston College Friday night.
The Terrapins will return home to the Comcast Center on Friday, October 14th at 7:00 p.m., just prior to Maryland Madness. Admission to the match is free.
