GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior outside hitter Julia Bergmann headlined the Atlantic Coast Conference’s yearly awards as she was voted ACC Player of the Year by the league’s coaches while Georgia Tech earned six total honors, the league office announced on Monday. Bergmann was also unanimously selected First Team All- ACC, along with fellow unanimous selection senior right-side hitter Mariana Brambilla and senior setter Matti McKissock, while senior middle blocker Breland Morrissette was tabbed Second Team All-ACC, and freshman outside hitter Bianca Bertolino garnered ACC All-Freshman Team honors.
Bergmann’s decorated season continues as she becomes the fourth Yellow Jacket in program history to win ACC Player of the Year and the first to receive the honor since Lynnette Moster in 2004. The menacing outside hitter now owns five yearly ACC honors, also with two more First Team All-ACC honors over the past two seasons as well as the ACC Freshman of the Year award and ACC All-Freshman Team honors during her first year on The Flats. Bergmann has already racked up a multitude of weekly awards this season, including AVCA Player of the Week and four ACC Player of the Week honors, the most by any student-athlete in the conference since 2015. The Munich, Germany, native’s numbers back up her accolades as she’s currently 14th in the country in points per set (5.26) and kills per set (4.55), leading the league in both categories. Other notable numbers for the powerful outside hitter include ranking second in the ACC and 27th in the NCAA in points (520.5) while placing second in the conference and 28th in the country in kills (450). She also eclipsed 1,000 career kills this season, owning 1,146 to date. In individual matches, Bergmann racked up her second career 30-kill match against Notre Dame this season, the second highest tally in the ACC this season.
Brambilla has put forth yet another outstanding season, being named First Team All-ACC for the third straight year. The Brazilian bomber now owns four total yearly ACC awards, also being named to the ACC All-Freshman Team following her first collegiate season. This season, Brambilla has earned a pair of ACC Player of the Week honors as she’s currently third in the ACC in kills per set (4.22) and points per set (4.67) on the year. The explosive right-side hitter has also set career milestones this season, skyrocketing into the top 10 in program history in career kills, currently ranking eighth with 1,518 to date.
McKissock, already a former ACC Setter of the Year, continues to thrive orchestrating the Jacket attack as she’s up to four All-ACC honors following her First Team All-ACC selection. Along with previously being tabbed the top setter in the league in 2019, McKissock was named All-ACC First Team during the same 2019 season and All-ACC Second Team a season ago despite missing significant time due to injury. The Windermere, Fla, native has rewritten the Georgia Tech record books this season, becoming the program’s leader in career assists during the 25-point rally scoring era, and has catapulted into third in career assists in program history with 3,947 to date.
Morrissette’s Second Team All-ACC selection marks her first career yearly award from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The middle blocker has blossomed during her senior year, becoming Tech’s anchor on defense with a team-high 98 total blocks (20 solo, 78 assisted) while becoming one of the Jackets’ most efficient attackers with a .372 hitting percentage. Nearly averaging a block per set, the Birmingham, Ala., native is currently 15th in the conference in the category as she’s piled up 164 kills this season.
Bertolino has had a stellar freshman campaign for the Jackets on the way to her ACC All-Freshman team selection, racking up five ACC Freshman of the Week honors on the year. The Argentinian kicked off her collegiate career by winning the weekly award in back-to-back weeks and continued her strong play throughout the season as she’s tallied nine double doubles on the year. Bertolino’s all-around presence has resulted in her standing second on the team in digs (291) and third on the team in kills (255) as well as aces (21), being a vital contributor throughout the year.
Up Next
Georgia Tech readies to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament, beginning its run against The Citadel (14-11, 7-9 SoCon) on Friday at 7 p.m. in O’Keefe Gymnasium. All preliminary site match times can be found on the attached championship bracket or online here.
Tickets
All-session packages and individual first and second round tickets will be made available for purchase at www.ramblinwreck.com/tickets. Season ticket holders and POINT TECH! Club donors will get priority access to purchase all-session packages. Extremely limited all-session packages will go on-sale to the general public on Monday, November 29 at 4 p.m. Individual round tickets will go on-sale later in the week. Please click here for more volleyball ticket information.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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