Jackets Conclude 2025 Season with Five-Set Match Against No. 8 UCLA in Round One of the NCAA Tournament

LEXINGTON, KY – Georgia Tech volleyball (16-14, 11-9 ACC) saw its 2025 season come to a close after dropping a five-set thriller to No. 8 UCLA (19-12, 12-8 Big10) in Round One of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament.

QUICK HITS

• The final match of the season saw Noemi Despaigne lead Tech’s offense for the final time with 18 kills. The freshman’s 18 kills in Round One were the second most in a five-set match this season, just behind her 19 against UVA.
• Her team-high 18 kills were the third most for a Yellow Jacket this season. With her offensive performance on Thursday, Despaigne finishes the season owning four of Tech’s top-five kill performances this season.
• Despaigne capped her freshman campaign with 10 double-digit kill performances while Mimi Mambu finished with 15 after 14 kills against UCLA.
• Anna Fiedorowicz led Tech in double-digit kill performances this season after she finished her first career tournament run with 10 kills bringing her to 17 total double-digit kill matches.
• Senior DeAndra Pierce finished her collegiate career on a high note as she recorded 12 kills alongside a team high .409 attack percentage.
• Sofia Velez recorded her 22^nd match of the season with double digit digs. Her 17 digs finish her career with 127 games recording 10+ digs out of 141 total collegiate games.
• Velez’s final 17 digs were tied for the second most digs in a five-set match with her 17-dig performance against UgA.
• Heloise Soares finished the season with 11 double-doubles, 13 career double-double, after recording 12 digs and a season high 52 assists on Thursday.
• The junior setter sits sixth in the modern scoring era record book for assists in a single season with 1,087 assists during the 2025 season, behind Kaleigh Colson’s 1,221 assist season in 2010.
• Bianca Garibaldi saw three final service aces on Thursday along with six kills and six blocks. Her Round One six blocks brought her to 126 block assists, 139 total blocks, this season.
• Both her block assists and total blocks go down as new modern scoring era records as both stats surpass the previous record holder, Asia Stawicka’s 2010 stats (115 BA, 131 TB).
• Tech’s 2025 NCAA Tournament Round One loss is the first-time head coach Michelle Collier has dropped a match in the opening round. Collier still holds a 17-15 record through NCAA Tournament play.

SET BY SET

Set 1 (GT 26 – UCLA 24)

• Set one saw the Jackets take a small three-point lead early (5-2) and retain that lead until the Bruins were able to come back and take the lead, 9-8. The two continued to trade points, but Tech would once again be able to establish a three-point lead to make set one 15-12 going into the media timeout. Following the timeout, UCLA would be able to outscore Tech, 9-4, but the Jackets were quick to respond and keep the set close (21-21). Despite the Bruins reaching set point (24-23), three final points from the Jackets claimed the 26-24 set one win. UCLA struggled to find a way to contain both Pierce and Despaigne in set one as Pierce led the Jackets with a .571 attack percentage and five kills and Despaigne just behind her with a .400 attack percentage and five kills. Soares began the match with her second most assists of the match (12) and one block assist. Velez also began strong recording more than double the amount of digs than any other player in set one (6).

Set 2 (GT 19 – UCLA 25)

• Tech struggled in set two as the Jackets saw an extremely low number of blocks combined with an extremely high number of attack errors which ultimately resulted in the Bruins taking the set two win. Set two began with UCLA forcing Tech to trail 12-5 early, before the Jackets could cut the Bruins’ lead down to four. UCLA responded by outscoring Tech, 8-3, to force the Jackets to continue to play catch up through the second set. Despite continuing to fight and even seeing three consecutive kills late from Fiedorowicz, Tech went on to drop set two, 25-19. Fiedorowicz finished set two leading the group offensively with four kills with Pierce and Mambu just behind her with three respectively. Soares saw a match high 13 assists in the second set while Velez recorded six digs for the second straight set.

Set 3 (GT  25 – UCLA 23)

• The third set saw the match’s highest attack percentages for both teams, with Tech holding a .303 attack percentage and UCLA holding a .407 attack percentage. The Yellow Jackets held a slight edge over the Bruins as far as kills (15-13) and service aces (4-2) while also keeping their errors to a minimum. UCLA jumped out in front to start set three, forcing Tech to trail by as much as six early on (8-2). Tech continued to trail, 13-10, until it was able to piece together a seven-point scoring run, that not even the media timeout could interrupt, to lead the set, 17-13. From then on, the Yellow Jackets held the lead regardless of the Bruins brining the match within one point on several occasions, and went on to take set three, 25-23. Once again, Despaigne led Tech’s offense with four kills. Mambu and Garibaldi also stacked another three kills respectively in set three. Soares earned 11 of Tech’s 13 set three assists while Garibaldi and Velez picked up the other two. Despaigne also proved to be solid on defense in set three, leading the team in digs (3) and blocks (2).

Set 4 (GT  18 – UCLA 25)

• UCLA’s offense had the edge in set four with more kills (15-12) and a higher attack percentage (.333-.161) as well as slightly less errors, which would go on to push the match to five sets. Set four would begin as one of the closest sets of the match through to 16-16, until UCLA pieced together a five-point run and force Tech to trail late. Mambu and Pierce went on to claim the final two kills for Tech, but UCLA’s four final points put an end to the fourth set. Mambu paced the Jackets’ offense with five kills while Despaigne had three and both Pierce and Fiedorowicz had two each. Soares saw her best assist percentage of the night in set four with 10 assists on 25 sets. Garibaldi and Despaigne recorded a pair of blocks each as well.

Set 5 (GT  10 – UCLA 15)

• Despite a valiant effort, UCLA’s ability to stack points, combined with too many Tech errors, in the fifth set is what led to the Jackets falling, 15-10, to end the season. Despaigne saw the highest number of kills across the board in the fifth set with four. Soares earned all six of Tech’s final assists. Velez and Fiedorowicz capped the night with three final digs each.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

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