GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior outside hitter Julia Bergmann has been named ACC Player of the Week for the second consecutive week and the fourth time this season after tying the program record of 38 single-match kills amidst a plethora of milestones over the weekend, the league office announced on Monday. Louisville’s Claire Chaussee also shares the honor this week.
Bergmann received the ACC’s first two weekly recognitions as top player in the conference to open the season and has now added another two in succession, summing up to four honors on the year after gathering the same total a season ago. Last year, she became the first student-athlete in the conference to receive ACC Player of the Week four times in a season since 2015. Compiling her accolades, Bergmann is up to nine career ACC Player of the Week honors and 11 total Atlantic Coast Conference weekly awards after earning ACC Freshman of the Week twice in her first season on The Flats.
The decorated Jacket most notably led No. 13 Georgia Tech volleyball (18-5, 11-3 ACC) to a reverse sweep of Florida State. The decorated outside hitter bested her season high combined kill output through two matches by nearly double digits as she piled up 54 kills for a gaudy six kills per set on the weekend. In addition, Bergmann tallied 21 digs, six aces and six blocks. In the explosive attacker’s well-rounded weekend, she posted double digit digs in both contests, resulting in a pair of double doubles as she’s up to 10 on the season.
Bergmann made waves in Tech’s comeback over Florida State, unleashing a career best and program record tying 38 kills in the match to become the first Yellow Jacket ever with four individual matches of 30 or more kills. In doing so, the reigning national player of the week also moved to seventh in Tech history in career kills with 1,630 to date. On top of her career high and program-best marks on the day, Bergmann also surpassed 400 kills on the season, improving to 437. She continues to lead the ACC by a wide margin and owns top-10 marks in the country in kills (437) and points (490.5), topping the nation in points per set (6.06) and ranking second in the country in kills per set (5.40). In the conference alone, she holds advantages atop the league over the second-place marks by 76 kills, 1.2 kills per set, 59.5 points and 1.05 points per set.
In addition to her 10th match of 20 or more kills this season at an efficient .338 clip against Florida State, Bergmann also picked up 11 digs, three aces and two blocks to wrap up her weekend. Tech’s offensive leader was crucial when it counted against the Seminoles, heating up as the match went on by adding eight kills in the second set, 13 in the third, eight again in the fourth and six of Tech’s 15 points in the deciding fifth set. Bergmann also capped both the fourth and fifth sets with aces to seal the comeback. Against Miami, Bergmann also led the team with 16 kills along with 10 digs and four blocks for one of her double doubles.
In individual matches, the decorated attacker now owns the top two marks in kills in a match across the ACC and four of the top seven, highlighted by Sunday’s 38 kills leading the way. Bergmann is the only player in the ACC with more than 30 kills in a match this season, having done so twice. Mirroring her advantages in kills, the reigning conference player of the year also owns the top two totals in points highlighted by Sunday’s 42.5 as the closest of any other ACC player to date is 30.5.
The Jackets receive their fourth weekly ACC honor of the year after racking up 12 total a season ago, which led the league for the most in program history on record. Georgia Tech had at least one recipient of an ACC weekly award in eight of the 14 weeks the conference recognized winners last season.
Up Next
Georgia Tech will return home to host No. 5 Louisville (22-2, 13-1 ACC) for Senior Day on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. in O’Keefe Gymnasium. The match will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
Competitive Drive Initiative
In a unified endeavor, Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Foundation, Georgia Tech athletics and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund have come together to accelerate funding for student-athlete scholarships with the launch of the Competitive Drive Initiative. The initiative kicks off with the Accelerate GT Match Program, where any new gift to the A-T Fund’s Athletic Scholarship Fund made through Dec. 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Georgia Tech Foundation, up to $2.5 million. Should Accelerate GT reach its $2.5 million fundraising goal, the matching gift would result in a $5 million impact for Georgia Tech athletics. To learn more and to contribute online, visit atfund.org/accelerate.
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