THE FLATS – No. 13 Georgia Tech volleyball (7-1) hopes to extend its winning streak to eight matches on Friday night, when the Yellow Jackets take on Georgia (6-3) inside Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga. It will be the 45th edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate on the volleyball court with Tech winning 12 of the past 16 meetings, dating back to 2006.
Storylines
• Tech was ranked No. 13 in the latest AVCA/TARAFLEX Coaches Poll.
• The poll marks the 74th consecutive week that GT has been in the Top 25, dating back to the 2020 fall preseason.
• Tech is coming off a 3-0 week (all sweeps) including its first-ever victory inside McCamish Pavilion, a dominating 3-0 sweep of No. 13 Florida in front of 4,081 Yellow Jacket fans.
• The victory over UF was the 36th ranked win in program history, the 12th of the Michelle Collier era and the 7th since the start of last season.
• Tech has won seven matches in a row, matching the longest win streak of 2023 and the longest since 2021 (10 in a row).
• The White & Gold have swept their last three opponents for the first time since non-conference play last season. It’s the first time one of those three opponents has been ranked (#13 Florida) since sweeping No. 17 WKU and No. 9 Ohio State in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
• Georgia Tech boasts seven athletes from outside the United States, (38.9 % of the roster) tied with Wisconsin for the most international players on a Power 4 roster.
• This is head coach Michelle Collier’s 11th season on The Flats, tying AVCA Hall of Famer Shelton Collier for the longest tenured coach in program history. At GT, she has 204 wins (2nd most behind Shelton Collier), 111 ACC victories (program record) seven NCAA Tournament match victories (program record) and is the first coach to have led the Jackets to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Senior Tamara Otene was named last week’s ACC Offensive Player of the Week after delivering 41 kills (5.13/set) at the BYU Nike Invitational. She is the only player in the Power 4 to average 3.6 kills/set and 3.00 digs/set this season.
• Otene hit the 100 kill mark in the 3rd set of her 7th match (vs. South Alabama) – it’s the quickest she’s reached 100 kills in any of her five collegiate seasons.
• Senior Bianca Bertolino is 11th in the nation (3rd in P4) with 21 aces this year. She has cracked the GT Top 10 for career aces, currently sitting in 8th with 132.
• The Jackets are the only team across the Power 4 conferences to have 3 players averaging over 3.00 digs/set – Velez (3.66), Otene (3.06) and Bertolino (3.03) (NCAA stats requires playing in 66.7% of their team’s sets to qualify).
• Sophomore right side Larissa Mendes is off to yet another hot start. She set a new career high with 23 kills in Tech’s four-set victory over New Mexico State, the most kills by a Georgia Tech underclassman since three-time All-American and Olympic medalist, Julia Bergmann.
• Mendes’ .370 hitting percentage this season is the 4th highest among Power 4 pin-hitters (OH and RS).
• Setter Luanna Emiliano is one of the most experienced setters in college, with 3,827 career assists – tied for 10th most among active DI players – and 1,176 career digs, the 5th most among active Division I setters.
• Tech is hitting .301 as a team this season, the ninth highest in Division I.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of the development of Yellow Jackets that thrive academically at the Institute and compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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