Senior Day Sunday Sees Victory over Notre Dame

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech volleyball (16-11, 11-7 ACC) finished the week on a high note as the Yellow Jackets defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-16, 7-11 ACC) 3-1 on Sunday afternoon.

QUICK HITS

• Sunday’s standout offensive performers were highlighted by sophomore Bianca Garibaldi with 14 kills and Anna Fiedorowicz with 11 kills.
• Garibaldi recorded 14 kills on 16 swings with only one attack error. Her .813 attack percentage ranks her within the modern scoring era top-5 just behind Asia Stawicka who recorded a .833 attack percentage back in the 2008 season.
• Fiedorowicz’s 11 kills were accompanied by 10 digs, giving the freshman the Poland native her fifth career double-double performance.
• The 11 kills also bring her to 15 double-digit kills this season, all of which have been recorded across Tech’s last 17-matches. She will enter the final two matches of the season on a six-match double-digit kill streak.
• Mimi Mambu saw her 14^th match of the season, fourth in the last five, recording double digit kills with 13 against Notre Dame.
• Freshman setter Abi Li saw a new career high for service aces. She recorded four of Tech’s nine aces, tying the teams season high in the category for the fourth time.
• Heloise Soares tied her career-high for blocks with six against the Fighting Irish.
• Tech advances to 11-6 against Notre Dame as well as 6-4 when hosting the Fighting Irish. The Jackets extend their win streak against the ACC opponent to four matches.

SET BY SET

Set 1 (GT 25 – UND 20)

• Both teams began the match with 10 kills, with Tech holding an edge over Notre Dame with both a better attack percentage and more blocks. Tech began with a two-point lead early (7-5) before extending that lead to four points (12-8). Regardless of the Fighting Irish being able to bring the match within one point on two occasions, the Yellow Jackets never surrendered the lead and went on to outscore Notre Dame 6-2 late in set one for the win. Garibaldi opened the match with four kills on four swings while DeAndra Pierce, Mambu, and Noemi Despaigne had two apiece. Soares saw her best numbers of the match in set one with 10 assists on 19 sets. Defensively, Garibaldi led the group with one solo block and three block assists.

Set 2 (GT 28 – UND 26)

• Set two saw a much more competitive match up as the lead exchanged five times and the score was tied 16 times. Notre Dame held a slight advantage as far as attack percentage, hitting .265 compared to Tech’s .213, however the Jackets were still able to get an edge in kills (19-14). A high number of attack errors for Tech along with seven blocks made for a longer set two, but a Tech win, nonetheless. Fiedorowicz saw a match high seven kills; Garibaldi, Mambu, and Despaigne recorded four kills respectively. Soares was responsible for 13 of Tech’s 15 set two assists. Sofia Velez recorded a match high five digs to help the Jackets take the first two sets.

Set 3 (GT  24 – UND 26)

• Tech was able to keep its momentum in the kill department with 16 kills compared to Notre Dame’s 14, but an increased number of Yellow Jacket errors combined with Fighting Irish blocks forced Tech to drop set three. Similar to set two, set three saw the score tied 15 times as well as six lead changes. Regardless of the tied score, the Jackets were able to maintain control through majority of set three and even had a late three-point lead (23-20) until Notre Dame was able to outscore Tech 6-1 to steal set three. Mambu led the offense with five digs with Garibaldi (4), Despaigne (3), and Pierce (3) just behind her. Soares and Pierce shared the lone Tech block of the set while also recording 12 assists.

Set 4 (GT  25 – UND 13)

• The fourth and final set was simply a dominant showing by the Jackets as they went 11-for-15 for kills (.667 attack percentage) along with two service aces and six block assists all while holding the Fighting Irish to only nine kills and a .087 attack percentage. Tech took a small lead early (4-1) and continued through set four stacking multiple points. It wasn’t until a five-point run, that even a Notre Dame timeout couldn’t stop, that Tech took complete control of the match (21-10). The Jackets went on to claim victory and concede only another three points on the way. Fiedorowicz finished the day with four final kills while Mambu, Garibaldi, and Pierce finished the final set with two kills each. Soares went 6-6 on assists in the last set while also recording two digs and two block assists alongside Garibaldi.

UP NEXT

The Yellow Jackets will finish the regular season next week starting with No. 5 Stanford Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the road and finishing with No. 4 Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. on Saturday in O’Keefe Gymnasium.

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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