Volleyball Clinches ACC Title

Nov. 13, 1999

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson volleyball team, ranked 13th nationally, defeated Duke 3-0 (15-5, 15-10, 15-3) Saturday night at Jervey Gym to clinch the regular season ACC Championship. The title is the first regular season championship for the Tigers.

The Tigers took an easy 15-5 win in game one. Duke jumped out to a 3-0 lead in game two, but the Tigers scored the next six points to take a 6-3 lead. The Blue Devils scored four-straight points for a 7-6 advantage, but the Tigers rallied to score four-straight and take a 10-7 lead. Clemson never looked back, winning the game 15-10. Clemson built an early 8-1 lead in game three before the team’s five seniors took the floor together for their final home match of the regular season. The Tigers pulled out a 15-3 win in the final stanza.

Senior Alison Coday led the team with 16 kills, five errors and 35 attempts for a .314 attack percentage, while fellow senior Cindy Stern had 14 kills, three errors and 28 attempts for a .393 hitting percentage. Stern tallied four block solos and four block assists for the evening. Sophomore Jodi Steffes added eight kills for the Tigers.

Freshman setter Jessi Betcher had 32 assists , two service aces and seven digs in the match. Senior Emily Gorla paced the team with eight digs, while senior Skye Frost added seven digs for the Tigers. Senior Mary Trull had four assists in game three.

Clemson (29-1, 15-1 ACC) enters next week’s ACC Tournament in Orlando, FL, as the number one seed. The Tigers will face the number nine seed Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Duke drops to 13-13, 7-9 ACC with the loss.