September 11, 2004

Box Scores

Elon Box Score

 

ATHENS, Ga. - The Hokie volleyball team split on the final day of the Outback Tournament, defeating Elon, 3-0, before falling to host Georgia, 2-3, Saturday night at the Ramsey Center in Athens, Ga.

The Hokies defeated Elon in straight sets, 30-17, 30-24, 30-20, to move to 2-0 for the tournament after a strong win in its first match against Louisiana-Monroe Friday night. The Hokies then fell to the host Bulldogs in a five game, 30-24, 26-30, 32-30, 15-30, 11-15, heartbreaker in the final match of the tournament.

Tech now moves to 4-3 overall, while Elon moves to 2-3 overall and Georgia improves to 5-2 so far this season.

Sophomore middle hitter Katie Esbrook (Barrington, Ill.) was named to the all-tournament team for the second week in a row and led the Hokies against Georgia with a career high 21 kill performance. She also totaled two blocks and a service ace in the match.

Senior Annie Spicer (Barrington, Ill.) added 15 kills on 44 attempts, two service aces and totaled a career high 25 digs.

This weekend, Spicer moved to 9^th place all-time with 958 career digs, passing Hilary Love who totaled 928 digs from 1992-1995.

Junior setter Melissa Markowski (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) was also named to the all-tournament team and led Tech with a team high 49 assists, added two total blocks and 12 digs.

Freshman Amanda Cloyd (Muncie, Ind.) led the Hokies with a 26 digs and added two service aces.

The match was both Tech and Georgia's first five game match of the season. In 2003, Tech was 2-4 in matches that went to the fifth stanza.

Tech has not beaten a Southeastern Conference opponent since defeating Auburn in 2002 in straight sets, 3-0. The Hokies are 0-3 all-time versus the Bulldogs and last met in 2002 on Sept. 14, falling 1-3.

In the match against Elon, the Hokies were led by Esbrook who totaled a match high 13 kills, two service aces and two block assists.

The win gave the Tech volleyball team its 499 all-time victory in 27 years of collegiate action, just one win shy of the 500 win milestone.

Spicer was second on the team with 10 kills on 17 attempts with only one hitting error for a career high .529 hitting percentage. She also totaled 12 digs and two block assists in the match.

Markowski led Tech with a match high 35 assists and added two service aces, three total blocks and seven digs.

Cloyd led the back row with a match high 14 digs and Smith added 12 digs on top of her seven kills and two service aces.

In all the Hokies had nine service aces to Elon's one, but both teams totaled six service errors. Tech also won the defensive battle, totaling 51 digs to Elon's 45 and 11 total blocks to Elon's seven.

"This weekend was a step in the right direction and something we need to continue to do," said head coach Greg Smith. "We are very happy with the way we played this weekend and how our players battled against a strong Southeastern Conference opponent. We need to continue to work hard and improve but become more consistent. This has been a tough non-conference schedule for us, but it will better prepare us for the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season. Non-conference games help you to grow and improve and we showed we are doing that tonight."

The Hokies now return to Blacksburg and begin preparations for its match against Virginia rival Liberty on Sept. 14 in Cassell Coliseum at 7 p.m.