No. 16 Tech Spoils Perfect Home Season for No. 25 UNC with 3-2 Win

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 16 Georgia Tech volleyball (17-4, 9-3 ACC) finished its week of ACC play with a five-set road win against No. 25 UNC (18-3, 10-2 ACC). Bianca Bertolino (17), Tamara Otene (13) and DeAndra Pierce (12) led the Yellow Jackets’ offense with double-digit kills against the Tar Heels while Luanna Emiliano had her seventh performance with 40+ digs.

QUICK HITS

• Otene now has eight double-doubles this season, including last game’s 20/20 double-double, and 30 double-doubles in her career after 13 kills and 15 digs against the Tar Heels.
• Bertolino earned her 12^th double-double of the season, 29^th of her career, with the 17 kills and 13 digs she had on Sunday.
• Bertolino is currently riding an impressive seven-game double-double streak.
• The senior tied her season-high for assists (3) for the third time this season as well as set a new season-high with six service aces.
• Pierce set a new career-high in kills with the 12 she had against UNC.
• Sofia Velez has now recorded 10 or more digs in 96 of her 100 collegiate matches and has recorded 10 or more digs in the last nine consecutive matches, after recording 19 against Duke.
• Georgia Tech’s eight-game ACC win streak is the longest ACC win-streak for the program since the 10-game win streak during the 2021 season.
• Tech’s most recent five-set victory over UNC was during the 2019 season.
• As a team, Georgia Tech set a new season-high for services aces (13), surpassing its previous high of 10 set against South Alabama (Sept. 12, 2024)
• The Yellow Jackets are now 5-1 in five-set matches this season.
• The last time Georgia Tech won back-to-back five set match was in October of 2023 when the Yellow Jackets beat the Virginia Cavalier on the road before beating the Florida State Seminoles at home.
• The last time Georgia Tech won back-to-back five set road matches was in November of 2019 when the Yellow Jackets beat UNC and NC State.

SET BY SET

Set 1 (GT 25 – UNC 23)

The Yellow Jackets played catchup early as the Tar Heels struck first in set one, but Tech stayed close on their heels and evened up the match at 13-13 thanks to Pierce’s first kill of the match. Pierce’s point was the start of a four-point scoring run that would result in Georgia Tech taking the lead, which it retained for the remainder of set one. Coming off her 20/20 double-double Friday, Otene remained hot on offense, leading the Jackets’ offense through set one with four kills. Pierce and Bertolino assisted Otene on offense with three kills apiece. Liv Mogridge boasted a .500 attack percentage through set one while Logan Wiley also recorded a .400 attack percentage to help provide a strong offense across the board.

Set 2 (GT 25 – UNC 22)

Set two began with a four-point scoring run for the Yellow Jackets who took advantage of their set one momentum. Tech tried to keep UNC at distance until the and did so until the Tar Heels went on a five-point scoring run to take control of the game, 15-13. The Yellow Jackets tied the match five times, before UNC strung together two points to which Tech responded with a timeout. Following the timeout, a UNC error opened the door for back-to-back service aces from Bertolino to give Tech the 22-21 lead. Despite one final point from the Tarheels, the Yellow Jackets came out on top with a pair of kills and a service ace from Wiley. Pierce, Otene, Bertolino, and Wiley recorded three kills a piece while Luanna recorded double digit assists for the second straight set (12).

Set 3 (GT 19 – UNC 25)

Both the Tarheels and the Yellow Jackets kept set three close until UNC broke the 5-5 tie with a four-point run. Tech was unable to respond to UNC’s .640 kill percentage in time as the Tar Heels took set three. Bertolino and Pierce continued to push the Yellow Jacket offense with four kills apiece in set three. Pierce and Mogridge showed accuracy with their .500 attack percentage in set three while Wiley boasted a 1.000 with her three kills.

Set 4 (GT 20 – UNC 25)

Tech controlled set four until UNC broke the 4-4 tie and held the lead through the remainder of set four. The fourth set saw a game high 17 kills for the Tar Heels compared to the Yellow Jackets’ 10. Bertolino recorded a match-high five kills in set four along with one service ace. Otene and Wiley also recorded one service ace each in set four. Defensively, Otene had a stand out performance in the fourth set with eight digs, as did Velez with six digs, in an attempt to shutdown the UNC offense.

Set 5 (GT 15 – UNC 12)

The Yellow Jackets put three points on the board before the Tar Heels were able to score their first point in set five. UNC battled back to tie the game 8-8, but Tech never allowed the Tar Heels to take the lead. One final kill from Bertolino and an attack error from UNC provided Tech with enough space to reach 15 points first. Otene recorded two final kills before Pierce and Laura Fischer contested the final Tar Heel attack.

UP NEXT

The Yellow Jackets will finish the second half of their four-game road stand starting with Cal on Friday at 10 p.m. ET in Berkley, Calif. and finishing the week against Stanford on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. Both matches will be live streamed on ACC Network Extra.

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