Volleybees

Senior setter Mash Tippins picked up another double-double with 26 assists and 12 digs, but the team hit .086 and lost to Kansas State 23-25, 18-25, 23-25 in Manhattan, KS Saturday night. Senior libero Jordan McCullers led the back row with 17 digs while junior middle Asia Stawicka and sophomore rightside Monique Mead each chipped in 8 kills. See story.

Kennesaw State traveled to Chicago this weekend to take Sabrita Gulley and Eman Burns home for the holiday. They lost to Northern Illinois 21-25, 16-25, 18-25 Friday evening. Grace had 3 kills, hitting .333, and a block. They fell to Illinois-Chicago 21-25, 25-18, 20-25, 20-25 Saturday morning. Grace had 5 blocks but no kills. In the finale Saturday afternoon, they lost to Memphis 25-23, 13-25, 12-25, 21-25.

The Jackets won the first two, but lost the next three, to fall to Loyola Marymount 25-22, 25-19, 26-28, 23-25, 9-15. Sophomore rightside Monique Mead had a career-high 23 kills, hitting .348, with 7 blocks, and junior outside Bailey Hunter added 10 kills. Senior setter Mash Tippins picked up another double-double with 44 assists and 11 digs. Despite winning the first two sets and leading most of the third, the Jackets had only one match point (at 26-25 in the third set) in the entire match. See story.

Sophomore rightside Monique Mead had 18 kills, hitting .364, to lead the Jackets past Oral Roberts 25-11, 25-20, 25-19 in Manhattan, KS this morning. Senior setter Mash Tippins picked up her second double-double of the season (31 assists, 11 digs) and senior libero Jordan McCullers led the back row with 16 digs. Tech plays again tonight at 6:30pm against Loyola Marymount. See story.

Senior libero Jordan McCullers reached the 1000 dig mark against Alabama A&M last weekend! See story.

The Sting Daily's Jon Cooper did a feature on senior setter Mary Ashley Tippins' pursuit of perfection.

Kennesaw State lost at Jacksonville State 14-25, 27-29, 10-25 Tuesday night. Grace had a kill and a couple blocks. Other than the second set, the Gamecocks pretty much had their way with the Owls. Former Tech libero Abby Showers Beam is the assistant coach for JSU.

Junior outside Bailey Hunter had 11 kills, hitting .417, and Monique Mead added 10, hitting .273, as Tech beat UAB 25-19, 25-13, 25-14 Saturday night to finish the weekend at 2-1. Sophomore outside Susan Carlson had a career-high 8 kills, hitting .375, and 7 digs. Mead, senior setter Mary Ashley Tippins, and senior libero Jordan McCullers made the all-tournament team. See story.

Kennesaw State lost to Southern Mississippi 27-29, 19-25, 27-29 Saturday night in Hattiesburg, MS. Grace had career-high 6 kills, hitting .400, with a dig ant a block.

Sophomore rightside Monique Mead had 13 kills, hitting .750, and junior middle Asia Stawicka add 11, hitting .550, as Tech swept Alabama A&M Saturday afternoon 25-11, 25-15, 25-14. See story.

Kennesaw State beat South Alabama 25-20, 25-21, 25-16 in Hattiesburg, MS Saturday afternoon. Grace had a career-high 5 kills, hitting .556 with no errors. She also had 2 assists, a dig and 2 blocks.

Sophomore rightside Monique Mead had 20 kills and senior libero Jordan McCullers had 19 digs, but it wasn't enough as Tech lost to Indiana 20-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-20, 16-18 Friday night in Atlanta. Junior setter Mary Chaudoin had 44 assists and 5 blocks in her home trip as a Hoosier. See story.

Kennesaw State (1-0) beat Nicholls State 25-20, 25-23, 25-15 at Southern Mississippi to open their season today. Grace had 2 kills and led the team with 3 blocks in her first collegiate start as a middle.

Senior setter Mary Ashley Tippins is a candidate for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS award for volleyball. This is the first year volleyball has been included in the award. See story.

They aren't the first daughters of famous dads to play volleyball at Tech (think Blair Moon and Talisa Kellogg), but the Jackets boast three of them on this year's roster: Nicki Meyer, Alexis Woodson and Mariah Woodson. The Sting Daily's Jon Cooper spent time recently with all three of daddy's not-so-little girls.

It's not just the team that has a new look with five new players, but the gym itself sports a new decor as the new gym and the new team unveiled themselves at the Gold-White scrimmage.

White, behind the hitting of freshman Ivona Kolak and sophomore Monique Mead, won the first set 26-24. It was more of the same in the second set as White won 25-20. The White team then finished with a 15-8 win in the third.

Good play on the Gold side though from sophomore middle Anne Czarnecki and freshman Jennifer Percy, as well as the Gold libero Alison Campbell.

Freshmen setter Kaleigh Colson ran the Gold team and set well, while freshman middle Quinn Evans showed off her blocking ability for the White team.

The team will be in action Friday night in the season opener at 7:00pm against Indiana in the O'Keefe Gym!

Local volleyball icon Bob Westbrook suffered a minor stroke Tuesday morning (17 Aug) in Atlanta. The founder of the nationally-recognized A5 Volleyball club, Westbrook is expected to make a full recovery. If you play or played volleyball at any level in Atlanta, you are or were not far from Bob's influence. You can get updates on his recovery at his CaringBridge site. The family requests that you not visit him at the hospital at this time. Please join the A5 family in keeping Bob in your thoughts and prayers.

Current Tech players Jordan McCullers, Monique Mead, Mary Ashley Tippins and Alexis Woodson all played for Bob at A5. Mead and Woodson were on Bob's 18 National championship team in 2008, as was Indiana setter Mary Chaudoin, who will face Tech 27 Aug.

The Yellow Jacket volleyball team will hold a public scrimmage Saturday (21 Aug) at 2:00pm at the O'Keefe Gym! It's your first chance to get a look at the 2010 edition of the Tech squad as they prepare for their season opener 27 Aug against Indiana.

Four Tech volleyball players were named to the pre-season All-ACC team today, the most of any team in the conference. Seniors Mary Ashley Tippins and Jordan McCullers, junior Bailey Hunter and sophomore Monique Mead made the 18-player list. See story.

The preseason ACC coaches' poll ranked Tech third among the 12 ACC teams. The Jackets picked up three first place votes and finished 5 points behind Duke and Florida State, which tied for first in the poll. Here's the rundown:

1. Duke (5) 108 points
1. Florida State (4) 108
3. Georgia Tech (3) 103
4. Miami 92
5. North Carolina 75
6. Clemson 71
7. Virginia 70
8. Virginia Tech 55
9. Maryland 40
10. Wake Forest 38
11. NC State 20
12. Boston College 12

You can read the full story here.