THE FLATS – Georgia Tech volleyball (19-3, 10-2 ACC) has been ranked No. 10 in the Week 10 AVCA/Taraflex Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll, the organization announced on Monday. Tech returns to its highest ranking of the season with this latest poll, after initially breaching the Top 10 in week three (Sept. 11).
The Jackets assume the No. 10 ranking after defeating Boston College and Syracuse, on the road, this past weekend. The win at Syracuse on Sunday served as both the 10th conference and 10th road win of the season, extending Tech’s double-digit conference win streak to five seasons. The 10 road victories are tied for the most away wins in a single season in the Michelle Collier era and tied for the fourth most in program history.
This most recent poll marks Georgia Tech’s 65th straight appearance in the AVCA Top 25 and the 32nd Top 10 ranking in program history. This is the latest in a list of accomplishments for Coach Michelle Collier, the 2nd winningest coach in program history (191). The Jackets tied their best 20-match start to a season in the Michelle Collier era (17-3), matching the output from 2021’s Elite 8 team.
The Yellow Jackets boast one of the top defenses in the nation, leading the ACC with 15.48 digs/set, more than a full dig over 2nd place (BC – 14.29). Tech’s 15.41 digs/set is the second highest among Power 5 defenses, behind only Kansas (15.89). That defensive success is spearheaded by the play of senior Paola Pimentel. The two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Week is currently second in the conference, averaging 4.46 dig/set, just .01 behind first place. The Rio de Janeiro native leads the team with 375 digs this season and is the first Tech player with three straight 300 dig seasons since the program’s all-time digs leader, London Ackermann (2013-16). Additionally, senior outside hitter Tamara Otene has recorded 261 digs this season, the second most by a Power 5 hitter and the most among pins in the ACC.
Otene is coming off a historic weekend in which she became the 9th Jacket in the modern scoring era to achieve 1,000 career kills after posting a season-best 24 in the win over Boston College. She leads the team in kills with 288, the fourth most in the ACC. She is on pace to become the first Jacket to achieve a 300 kill/300 dig season since Mariana Brambilla’s First Team All-American season in 2021.
Junior outside hitter Bianca Bertolino has been a weapon from the service line all year. Her 49 aces, and .58 aces/set, top the ACC and land 6th in the NCAA. The Argentina native is just one ace away from becoming just the 5th Jacket this century to reach 50 aces in a season
UP NEXT
Georgia Tech will put its Top 10 ranking to the test this weekend when No. 3 Louisville (18-2, 11-1 ACC) comes to O’Keefe Gymnasium, Friday at 7 p.m. The Jackets follow that with a Sunday afternoon battle against Notre Dame (10-10, 4-8 ACC). Both matches will be inside O’Keefe Gymnasium and will be live streamed on ACC Network Extra.
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 A-T Fund’s Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and the Support The Swarm Fund, created to give fans an opportunity to help Georgia Tech athletics maintain its recent momentum through the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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