THE FLATS – Georgia Tech volleyball has made three offseason additions to its 2021 signing class. The three future Jackets will join 12 returning current players, including all six regular starters. The first of its offseason signings is incoming freshman Lauren Sanden.
Sanden comes to The Flats hailing from Ashburn, Va. The soon-to-be freshman libero/defensive specialist will enter the collegiate ranks on the heels of a decorated high school career at Riverside High School in Leesburg, Va. A three-year captain and four-year letter winner, Sanden helped lead the Rams to become District Champions in 2019 and 2020, the highest achievements the program has earned to date.
Individually, Sanden garnered First Team All-District, First Team All-Region and Second Team All-State honors as a junior in 2019. She was once again named First Team All-District and First Team All-Region for her efforts as a senior in 2020. Over the past three seasons, Sanden honored her captain’s badge by being named Riverside MVP each year. The future Yellow Jacket filled up the stat sheets on the way to each of those honors as well as she tallied a career-high 243 kills throughout the 2019 season and piled up a career-high 24 kills in a game during the same year.
Off the court, Sanden has also excelled and gone the extra mile as she was an All-A Honor Roll member each of her four high school years, held an NHS officer position her final two years and was a member of the Spanish National Honor Society and Red Cross Club.
Upon joining the White and Gold, Sanden intends to major in Biomedical Engineering to potentially pursue a career as a forensic scientist or a rehabilitation engineer.
Georgia Tech now prepares for its upcoming fall slate after concluding the 2020-21 season by advancing to the Second Round of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship for the first time since 2004. The Yellow Jackets took down Lipscomb in the First Round for their first NCAA Tournament win in nearly 21 years. The berth in the Big Dance alone marked the 10th time in program history, the first for the Yellow Jackets since 2009 and the first appearance under coach Michelle Collier.
Tech had three Jackets receive yearly honors in Mariana Brambilla (AVCA All-American, All-ACC First Team), Julia Bergmann (AVCA All-American, All-ACC First Team) and Matti McKissock (All-ACC Second Team), each of whom will return next season.
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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