University of Georgia
UMKC
Georgia Volleyball Earns 3-1 Victory Over UMKC
September 03, 2010 | Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2010
GREELEY, Colo. --- The University of Georgia volleyball team opened the Northern Colorado Classic with a 3-1 victory over the University of Missouri-Kansas City at the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion on Friday morning.
Georgia (4-0) defeated UMKC (1-4) with set scores of 25-16, 22-25, 25-22 and 25-20. The Bulldogs, one of five times participating in the two-day tournament, return to the court Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. ET to take on Fairfield (0-3).
"We are pretty happy for the win this morning against a hard fighting UMKC team," Georgia head coach Joel McCartney said. "The start to this match was the way we want to establish ourselves in a competition, but we learned the hard way in the second set that we have some work to do in managing the consistency in our play. Our service errors and erratic play throughout the match continued through the third set and into the forth, but we took a better approach to finish things later in that final set."
The second match of the tournament will feature Fairfield and South Dakota (2-3) at 1:30 p.m. while match three pits UMKC against host Northern Colorado (2-2) at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs and Stags meeting will be the fourth match of the event and day one will conclude with a 9 p.m. contest between South Dakota and Northern Colorado.
On Friday morning, Georgia earned the victory over UMKC from the offensive side of the net with 63 kills on a .324 hitting percentage as junior setter Kathleen Gates dished out 47 assists. Four Bulldogs finished the match with double-digit kill totals, and all four hit about .300. From the middle hitter positions, junior Ann Dylla posted a team-best 16 kills on a .400 clip while senior Valentina Gonzalez had 14 kills on a .385 mark. From the outside hitter spots, freshman Brittany Northcutt added 12 kills on a .308 hitting percentage and senior Erika Clark chipped in 11 kills on a .303 clip.
"Our stats look pretty good and the win was nice, but we have some growing to do this weekend before coming back to Athens," McCartney noted. "Ann stepped up this morning and showed the most maturity with her game on both sides of the net. Simone May did a nice job off the bench in the fourth set, and even though we didn't go to her a lot, she did well with what she was given."
Clark narrowly missed a double-double performance with nine digs, Georgia's second-best showing in the match behind junior libero Carla Tietz's 17 digs.
The strong offensive showing helped Georgia overcome the UMKC effort. The Kangaroos had 41 kills on a .179 hitting percentage but led the match with 48 digs and 10.5 blocks compared to the Bulldogs 45 digs and 5.0 blocks. Both teams finished with five aces.
Match Notes:
• The Georgia-UMKC meeting was the first time the two programs have played each other in volleyball. All four of Georgia's matches in the Northern Colorado Classic will be the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and each respective school.
• Dylla recorded 16 kills in a match for the second time this season. Her career-high stands at 17.
• Tietz posted her second 17 dig match of 2010.
• Two of Georgia's aces came from Northcutt, which gives her 15 aces on the year through just four matches.
Northern Colorado Classic Results & Remaining Schedule (All Times Eastern):
Friday, Sept. 3
Georgia def. UMKC, 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-22, 25-20)
1:30 p.m. - Fairfield vs. South Dakota
4 p.m. - UMKC vs. Northern Colorado
6:30 p.m. - Georgia vs. Fairfield
9 p.m. - South Dakota vs. Northern Colorado
Saturday, Sept. 4
11 a.m. - Fairfield vs. Northern Colorado
1 p.m. - South Dakota vs. Georgia
3:30 p.m. - UMKC vs. Fairfield
8 p.m. - South Dakota vs. UMKC
10 p.m. - Georgia vs. Northern Colorado
