University of Georgia Athletics
UGA Volleyball Defeats Jacksonville, 3-0
August 31, 2007 | Volleyball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- Freshman Britta Buethe posted a double-double performance and junior Maria Taylor had a match-best 19 kills to pace a season-best .347 hitting percentage and lead the Georgia volleyball squad to a 3-0 victory over the Jacksonville Dolphins on Thursday evening.
“We had a nice start this evening and we felt focused,” Georgia head coach Joel McCartney said. “We took a pretty nice step in controlling the match offensively and I think the way we looked in game one was somewhat intimidating and I like that.”
Georgia (5-0) improves its school-record of consecutive games won by shutouts to open a season to five. The Bulldogs earned the victory over Jacksonville (0-4) with game scores of 30-20, 30-21 and 30-27. UGA posted a season-best match hitting percentage of .347 while the Dolphins hit .207, the highest opponent hitting percentage against the Bulldogs this season. Georgia remains the only team in the Southeastern Conference to not drop a single game in 2007.
Buethe’s had 12 kills and team-best 10 digs to record the double-double, which was her second on the year. Taylor’s had a match-best 19 kills, which marks the fourth time she has lead the Bulldogs in kills in a match the season.
“There were some bright spots in the match tonight and I thought Britta held her on the left side,” McCartney said. “She did a good job of getting a double-double because we substituted her out of the game to give her a little break in games one and two, so to be able to lead us in digs and to make some of the adjustments that she did was good.”
The Bulldogs also received several good performances from freshman middle hitter Lindsay Gehan, who added 10 kills on a hitting percentage of .529, and junior setter Mara Martin, who had a season-best 43 assists.
“A few days ago, I said we felt like Lindsay is just going to keep getting better and better, and I think that is true,” McCartney indicated. “We see more of her personality every night in her play and she is getting more comfortable in our system. She’s also doing some things on her own to step up and create some opportunities for herself both offensively and defensively. Lindsay is leading at the net defensively in the blocking category, and she also did a great job at leading our hitting percentage tonight out of the middle position.”
For the fourth straight match, Georgia had more service aces (seven) than service errors (six). The opening contest against Stetson is the only match in which the Dogs have had more errors than aces.
“Our serving was consistent tonight,” McCartney added. “We felt like we held our own in that category as well.”
Georgia hit an astonishing mark of .500 in game one while the Dolphins were held at just .189 in the 30-20 Bulldog win. After UGA took game two 30-21, Jacksonville gave the Dogs their closest contest of the year at 30-27 in the third game.
By improving to 5-0, Georgia took sole possession of the fifth-best start in school history after being tied with the 1990 squad at 4-0. If the Bulldogs can improve to 6-0 in their next contest, they will tie the 1981 squad for the fourth-best start in the program’s 30-year history.
“All-and-all, I think two things are happening in each match that we are playing That is we are seeing where are strengths are, but we are also recognizing our deficiencies. It’s difficult while you are on the road to do a whole lot of work with that, so most of the work we are going to get done is what we can do on Sunday and Monday before Tuesday’s match and then again on Wednesday and Thursday before we head down to Atlanta.”
Georgia will look to achieve that feat while concluding the 2007 season’s longest stretch of games away from home, six, with a 1 p.m. meeting against Presbyterian College (Clinton, S.C) in Jacksonville on Friday. Then, the Bulldogs will host their first match in Athens on Tuesday, Sept. 4 against USC Upstate at 7 p.m.
“We had a nice start this evening and we felt focused,” Georgia head coach Joel McCartney said. “We took a pretty nice step in controlling the match offensively and I think the way we looked in game one was somewhat intimidating and I like that.”
Georgia (5-0) improves its school-record of consecutive games won by shutouts to open a season to five. The Bulldogs earned the victory over Jacksonville (0-4) with game scores of 30-20, 30-21 and 30-27. UGA posted a season-best match hitting percentage of .347 while the Dolphins hit .207, the highest opponent hitting percentage against the Bulldogs this season. Georgia remains the only team in the Southeastern Conference to not drop a single game in 2007.
Buethe’s had 12 kills and team-best 10 digs to record the double-double, which was her second on the year. Taylor’s had a match-best 19 kills, which marks the fourth time she has lead the Bulldogs in kills in a match the season.
“There were some bright spots in the match tonight and I thought Britta held her on the left side,” McCartney said. “She did a good job of getting a double-double because we substituted her out of the game to give her a little break in games one and two, so to be able to lead us in digs and to make some of the adjustments that she did was good.”
The Bulldogs also received several good performances from freshman middle hitter Lindsay Gehan, who added 10 kills on a hitting percentage of .529, and junior setter Mara Martin, who had a season-best 43 assists.
“A few days ago, I said we felt like Lindsay is just going to keep getting better and better, and I think that is true,” McCartney indicated. “We see more of her personality every night in her play and she is getting more comfortable in our system. She’s also doing some things on her own to step up and create some opportunities for herself both offensively and defensively. Lindsay is leading at the net defensively in the blocking category, and she also did a great job at leading our hitting percentage tonight out of the middle position.”
For the fourth straight match, Georgia had more service aces (seven) than service errors (six). The opening contest against Stetson is the only match in which the Dogs have had more errors than aces.
“Our serving was consistent tonight,” McCartney added. “We felt like we held our own in that category as well.”
Georgia hit an astonishing mark of .500 in game one while the Dolphins were held at just .189 in the 30-20 Bulldog win. After UGA took game two 30-21, Jacksonville gave the Dogs their closest contest of the year at 30-27 in the third game.
By improving to 5-0, Georgia took sole possession of the fifth-best start in school history after being tied with the 1990 squad at 4-0. If the Bulldogs can improve to 6-0 in their next contest, they will tie the 1981 squad for the fourth-best start in the program’s 30-year history.
“All-and-all, I think two things are happening in each match that we are playing That is we are seeing where are strengths are, but we are also recognizing our deficiencies. It’s difficult while you are on the road to do a whole lot of work with that, so most of the work we are going to get done is what we can do on Sunday and Monday before Tuesday’s match and then again on Wednesday and Thursday before we head down to Atlanta.”
Georgia will look to achieve that feat while concluding the 2007 season’s longest stretch of games away from home, six, with a 1 p.m. meeting against Presbyterian College (Clinton, S.C) in Jacksonville on Friday. Then, the Bulldogs will host their first match in Athens on Tuesday, Sept. 4 against USC Upstate at 7 p.m.
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