THE FLATS – No. 17 Georgia Tech volleyball (11-4, 3-3 ACC) look to keep the winning momentum going this week with a pair of matches against Clemson (8-9, 0-6 ACC). The Yellow Jackets will host Clemson in O’Keefe Gymnasium on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before traveling up to South Carolina for a road match against the Tigers on Friday at 3 p.m.
The Jackets are coming off a perfect weekend, featuring a pair of sweeps over Virgina Tech and Virginia. It was the first perfect weekend of ACC play this season and the first since Oct.21-13 of 2022 (vs. B.C. and Syracuse).
Parking
Standard parking will be available in the McCamish, East O’Keefe and Family Housing lots for all matches.
Clear Bag Policy
Georgia Tech has implemented a clear bag policy. Any outside items brought into the facility must be contained within a clear bag. For more information on Georgia Tech’s policy, go to https://ramblinwreck.com/clearbag/
Week Schedule
- Wednesday, Oct. 16 | No. 17 Georgia Tech vs. Clemson | 7 p.m. | ACCNX | Watch | Live Stats
- Friday, Oct. 18 | No. 17 Georgia Tech at Clemson | 3 p.m. | ACCNX | Watch | Live Stats
Storylines
• The Jackets have upped their floor defense in recent matches, setting a season-best with 80 digs in the win over Notre Dame before making 62 digs in the win over UVA, the most in a three-set match this season. Over the last three victories, Tech is making 17.73 digs/set, a massive improvement over the 13.24 digs/set in all other matches.
• 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 208 wins (2nd most behind Shelton Collier), 114 ACC victories (program record) seven NCAA Tournament match victories (program record) & is the first coach to have led the Jackets to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
• The Yellow Jackets are the only Power 4 program to have three players averaging over 3.00 kills/set: Tamara Otene (3.32), Larissa Mendes (3.32) and Bianca Bertolino (3.17). UTRGV is the only other program across Division I to have such a balanced offense.
• Setter Luanna Emiliano is one of the most experienced setters in college, with 4,035 career assists – 12th most among active DI players – and 1,244 career digs, the 6th most among active Division I setters.
• The Brazilian setter has delivered double-doubles in three of her last four matches and leads all of Division I with 71 career double-doubles.
• Senior Bianca Bertolino is 21st in the nation and 10th among P4 players with .53 aces/set this year. She has cracked the GT Top 10 for career aces (7th -144) and is on pace to set a modern scoring era record for aces/set for a career.
• The Argentinian became the 6th Yellow Jacket in the modern scoring era to achieve 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs last weekend, notcing her 1,000th career kill in the victory over Virginia.
• Sophomore right side Larissa Mendes has taken a big step in her development this season, shouldering more of the offense in recent weeks, with great success. Mendes is tied with Otene for the team lead in kills/set (3.32) while hitting at a much more efficient clip (.299 compared to .185). Her 23 kills against New Mexico State were the most by a Georgia Tech underclassmen since Olympic medalist Julia Bergmann and her 5.00 kill/set performance on Sunday against Virginia was a new career-best for an ACC match.
• Otene continues to be a driving force in GTs success, making her presence felt in every aspect of the game. she is coming off back-to-back double-digit dig matches for the sixth time this season while remaining the team-leader in kills (176) and attacks (459).
• Junior libero Sofia Velez has settled into the GT system, making 4.33 D/set last weekend. She has made 10+ digs in 90 of 94 career matches
• Georgia Tech has won 14-straight matches over Clemson dating back to 2015 – Tech’s longest active winning streak over an ACC opponent.
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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