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No. 16 Jackets Swarm Beach

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LONG BEACH, Calif. – No. 16 Georgia Tech volleyball (4-0) handled Long Beach State (2-3) with a 3-1 victory over the hosting Beach in the Jackets’ first match of the Long Beach State Tournament at Walter Pyramid on Friday. Apart from a highly contested third set the Beach were able to sneak away with, 33-31, Tech outscored Long Beach State 75-46 in its three winning sets.

Freshman outside hitter Bianca Bertolino continues to impress through her first collegiate campaign as she led the Yellow Jackets piling up 21 kills on 37 attacks with only one error for a gaudy .541 hitting percentage. The Argentinian also picked up 12 digs and a solo block for her second career double double. Junior outside hitter Julia Bergmann joined Bertolino in having a stellar night, coming away with 17 kills, three service aces to surpass 100 career aces, 14 digs for a double double and a career-high six total blocks (three solo, three assisted). Senior outside hitter Mariana Brambilla pitched in across the board, adding 15 kills, an ace, eight digs and five total blocks. The “Killer B’s” totaled 53 kills, four aces, 34 digs and contributed to 11 total blocks.

Senior middle blocker Breland Morrissette joined in on the Jacket block party as she tallied a career-high tying five total blocks to go with eight kills on just 13 attacks for a strong .615 hitting percentage. Fellow senior middle blocker Kayla Kaiser pitched in defensively with four total blocks along with six kills, and senior libero Maddie Tippett led the squad in digs with 18 to eclipse 1,000 career digs.

Senior setter Matti McKissock orchestrated the offense in her usual role, totaling 53 assists on the night.

Georgia Tech held a significant advantage in multiple categories on the stat sheet on the night, blowing away the Beach in kills (67-49), hitting percentage (.375-.204), assists (61-45) and blocks (13-4).

Volleyball vs. Long Beach State

Sep. 3, 2021 (Conor Lounsbury)

How it Happened

The Jackets blitzed the Beach out of the gates in the first set, overwhelming the Long Beach State by taking 11 of the first 12 points. The Beach managed to cut Georgia Tech’s lead to single digits at a 13-4 mark, but the Yellow Jackets kept their distance cruising to a 25-15 first set win.

Long Beach State put up more of a fight in the second set, but the Yellow Jackets were able to string together six straight points up to a 13-7 lead to distance themselves from the Beach. One more stretch taking seven of eight points propelled Tech well in front of Long Beach State, 22-14, as the Jackets wrapped up the second set with a 25-16 win.

The Beach refused to go down without a fight, answering the bell in the third set. In a set that would see 20 deadlocks throughout, neither side was able to create more than three points of separation. The Jackets and Beach found themselves tied at 25 apiece, requiring extra points for Long Beach State to keep its hopes alive. The two squads traded even blows, finding themselves tied at 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 until the Beach managed to pull out the final two points to take the set, 33-31.

After missing out on an opportunity to sweep, Georgia Tech came out with a vengeance in the fourth set. The Yellow Jackets took eight of nine early points to move ahead 10-3 and never looked back, earning another four out of five points up to a 20-10 lead on the way to an eventual 25-15 set win and 3-1 match win.

Up Next

The Jackets will wrap up the weekend with their second ranked contest of the young season, this time as slight favorites in a showdown with No. 18 UCLA at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday at Walter Pyramid.

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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 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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