No. 13 Tech Drops Match to SMU

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech volleyball (8-2, 0-1 ACC) suffered a setback on Friday night, falling to No. 23 SMU (9-3, 1-0 ACC) in three sets: 22-25, 20-25, 21-25. The Yellow Jackets saw their win streak stopped at eight matches and their home set streak ended at 13.

QUICK HITS

• This was the 34th consecutive sold out match at O’Keefe Gymnasium, a streak dating back to the 2021 season.
• Sophomore right side hitter Larissa Mendes led the team in kills, making 11 on .450 hitting.
• Mendes is now hitting .361 on the season, the highest of any Power 4 player at her position and the 4^th best among Power 4 pin hitters.
• Mendes has hit over .300 in all four of her 10+ kill matches this year.
• The Brazilian also made a pair of aces, tying her career-high.
• Senior setter Ashlyn Goolsby set a new career high with seven assists coming off the bench in the first and third sets.
• Senior outside hitter Bianca Bertolino made 10 kills. She has now made 10 or more kills in eight straight matches, the longest streak of her career.
• Bertolino also added three digs, bringing her career total to 1,102, passing Julia Bergmann (1,100) for 7^th most by a Yellow Jacket in the modern scoring era.

SET BY SET

Set 1 (GT 22 – SMU 25)

The first set was an offensive shootout with both teams executing their systems efficiently. As a result, scoring runs were hard to come by as neither team led by more than two points until SMU took a 21-18 lead late in the set. Tech’s offense was balanced and strong with four Jackets making multiple kills and posting a team hitting percentage of .364 but the Mustangs offense was too good, reaching 25 points first thanks to .417 hitting on the other side of the net.

Set 2 (GT 20 – SMU 25)

SMU jumped in front, 10-4, in the second, thanks to three blocks. The Jackets made a 6-0 scoring run to cut the deficit to just one point, 21-20, but SMU responded with a 4-0 run of their own, taking a two-set lead in the match. Junior middle blocker Liv Mogridge was key to the late set run, making two kills and two blocks in the run but it wouldn’t be enough.

Set 3 (GT 21– SMU 25)

The Jackets came out with vigor in the third, overcoming an early 2-5 score to take an 8-6 lead. But SMU’s offense kept finding open court, eventually taking control of the set, 17-13.Tech battled through the end, making it a two-point set, late, 21-19, but SMU held on, handing GT its first loss of the conference season.

UP NEXT

Georgia Tech welcomes AVCA No. 1-ranked Pitt (11-0) into O’Keefe on Sunday at 1:30 pm. The match is sold out and will be broadcast live on ACC Network.

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