THE FLATS – Georgia Tech volleyball all-American Julia Bergmann has joined Brazil’s national volleyball team for summer competition, currently competing in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League. The Yellow Jacket standout has continued to make an impact internationally at the game’s highest level, starting for Brazil as one of the top producers on the squad and one of just two active NCAA players throughout the VNL encompassed of 16 countries.
Amongst the VNL, Bergmann currently leads Brazil and is eighth in the competition on serve receive (106). The rising senior also ranks top five on her squad in points (103), kills (89), blocks (nine), aces (five) and digs (56) throughout the competition.
In Brazil’s third week of competition, Bergmann once more built on her already striking international campaign with 40 total points, including 31 kills and six blocks, as well as three aces and 16 digs. Coming into the week, Tech’s all-American was prepared to face powerful serves in sequence, as evidenced by her top-10 ranking of successful receptions across the league.
“Whoever plays alongside Gabi will always be a target for the opponent’s serve,” said Bergmann. “I really like passing and training passes and, as the serve is going to be directed at me, I prepare myself beforehand. I try to do in games what I train every day.”
Despite being one of the youngest members on the squad, Tech’s all-American propelled Brazil to an undefeated week with four wins over China (3-2), Korea (3-0), Bulgaria (3-0) and Thailand (3-1). The dominant stretch resulted in a quarter-final berth in the final phase of the VNL’s competition as Brazil completed the qualifying stage placed second amongst the league with 10 wins and 29 points.
“It was an important week, the last one before the finals. China has been playing good games and has efficient attackers,” added Bergmann. “In the last week, we focused a lot on the relationship between blocking and defending. It’s a different style of play from European teams, but we studied and finalized the last adjustments.”