CHESTNUT HILL, MA – No. 11 Georgia Tech volleyball (18-3, 9-2 ACC) went the distance with Boston College (14-11, 3-8 ACC), defeating the Eagles in five sets (20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 18-25, 15-9) on Friday night inside Power Gym. Tamara Otene recorded her 1,000th career kill as the Jackets delivered their ninth road win of the season.
QUICK HITS
- This is Georgia Tech’s fourth win in a row over Boston College dating back to the 2019 season.
- Tech improves to 9-1 on the road this season, tied for the seventh most road victories in program history.
- Senior outside hitter Tamara Otene recorded her 1,000th career kill in the third set, becoming the 9th Jacket in the 1,000-kill club in the modern scoring era (since 2008) and the 5th in the Coach Collier era (since 2014).
- She set a new season high with 24 kills tonight, bringing her career total to 1,009.
- Otene also managed 10 digs, her team-leading 12th double-double of the year, bringing her season total to 257, the most by any hitter in the Power 5.
- Junior outside hitter Bianca Bertolino delivered her 8th double-double of the year, making 19 kills and 14 digs on .341 hitting.
- She has now hit 39 kills on .395 hitting in her last two matches.
- Senior libero Paola Pimentel secured a team-best 16 digs. She has made at least 10 digs in 20 of her 21 matches this year.
- Freshman setter Heloise Soares led the team with 35 assists with senior setter Bella D’Amico adding 21 of her own.
- Sophomore middle blocker Anna Boezi posted six blocks tonight (two solo, four assisted). She improves her average to 1.17 blocks/set over her eight career starts since taking over at middle blocker.
- Freshman opposite Larissa Mendes made 12 kills on .321 hitting, she has hit over .300 in four of her 10 ACC matches.
- Senior defensive specialist Liz Patterson made a pair of digs to go along with a pair of aces, as a serving sub. She has recorded digs in seven consecutive matches, the longest streak of her career.
- Patterson has now made at least one service ace in three straight matches. She has served five aces with just one error over that span.
- Tech has now played in four consecutive five set road matches, holding a 3-1 record in those matches.
- The White and Gold are 4-1 in fifth sets this season, the most five-set wins since 2018.
Set By Set
Set 1 (BC, 25-20): Boston College came out swinging on Alumnae day, taking advantage of a slow start defensively for GT and taking the opening set. The Eagles made a 4-0 run to go in front, 16-12, and managed to hold off the Jackets for the rest of the set. Bertolino made five kills and four digs to lead the team. But the defense wasn’t up to standard as Tech found itself a set down, on the road.
Set 2 (GT, 25-19): The Jackets responded right away in the second as kills from Boezi and Otene gave GT a 3-0 lead. BC managed to tie the match, 4-4, only for Boezi to deliver two more blocks, thanks to some great serving from Patterson, to send the Jackets on a 4-0 run, re-establishing the cushion at 9-5. Coach Collier subbed in Soares as the Eagles looked to be getting back into the set, 16-14, and she led the offense on 4-1 run, putting Tech back up by five, 20-15. Otene ended the set with her team-leading seventh kill, ending a bounce-back set for the Kiwi who shouldered much of the offense (7 kills, 17 attacks). The Jackets made five blocks in the set, led by the three by Boezi. DeAndra Peirce recorded two blocks in the set, including a crucial solo block to spur the late, 4-1 scoring run.
Set 3 (GT, 25-18): Boston College seamed poised to take momentum right back to start the third, going in front, 7-4. But the Jackets weathered the storm, tying things back up at 10-10, before going on a long, 11-3 scoring run to rip the set out of the Eagles’ talons. Otene and Soares handled the bulk of the serving duties throughout the run as Bertolino rattled off six late kills, including four in a row from 19-17 to 23-17, to secure the set. Tech’s offense was humming, making 18 kills on .516 hitting in the third. Soares made 17 assists in the set, distributing the ball to Otene (seven kills on .500 hitting), Bertolino (six kills on .600 hitting) and Mendes (four kills on .667 hitting) with tremendous success throughout. Pimentel led the back row with four digs as Boezi, once again, led the effort at the net, adding in two more blocks.
Set 4 (BC, 25-18): The Jackets couldn’t find an answer for the early BC rally in the fourth, falling behind 9-3, and never getting back within four. The GT passing was substandard as the Eagles forced a fifth set by seven points. Otene made six kills on .308 hitting but it wouldn’t be enough.
Set 5 (GT, 15-9): Pimentel’s second ace of the night tied the fifth at 5-5 after BC got out to a 5-3 lead. Both sides traded points until the Jackets delivered an 8-1 scoring run off the serves of Patterson and Soares to silence the crowd and send Georgia Tech into the win column once again. Tech stood its ground defensively, making seven digs, led by three from Pimentel, while siding out at an impressive 80 percent clip in the deciding set. The final point of the night was won via a block from Boezi and Mendes and the Jackets escaped with their ninth road win of the season.
UP NEXT
Georgia Tech will be fighting for its 10th road victory of the season on Sunday afternoon at Syracuse (2-18, 0-10 ACC). The match will begin at 1 p.m., inside the Women’s Building, and will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
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.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on Twitter (@GTAthletics), Facebook, Instagram or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
