ATLANTA (Oct. 12) – Coming off a stretch of four home matches in nine days, Georgia Tech’s volleyball team heads north to Virginia and Maryland this weekend for a pair of critical league matches.
Friday night, Tech (13-6, 3-3 ACC) and Virginia (11-5, 4-2 ACC) will face off in Charlottesville at 7 p.m., in a battle for third place in the ACC, behind Clemson and North Carolina. The Cavaliers come off a loss on Saturday night at Wake Forest, which snapped their four-match ACC winning streak. Virginia took both meetings with the Jackets a year ago.
Tech will travel up the road to College Park, Maryland on Saturday to battle Maryland (9-11, 2-4 ACC) in a 7 p.m. contest at Ritchie Coliseum. The Terrapins return home looking to turn things around, after dropping a pair of matches on the road last weekend at Wake Forest and Duke. The Jackets defeated Maryland in both meetings last season.
The Jackets closed their homestand last Saturday with a win in three games against Florida State, after dropping the first three matches to 13th-ranked Clemson, North Carolina, and N.C. State.
“I thought our team showed a lot of character in the win against Florida State, after one of the most disappointing home losses in Georgia Tech volleyball history,” said head coach Shelton Collier. “Winning by a 3-0 score showed that our team has a lot of character and determination, and is something we can build on”.
The Jackets will look to build on that character and determination as this weeks roadtrip will go a long way to determining Techs post-season fate, as the Jackets attempt to move into the upper-echelon in the ACC standings, and position themselves for an NCAA Tournament berth at the end of the season.
“These games are must-win games,” said Collier. “We must beat Virginia, as they’re one of the teams were battling with for an NCAA bid. The winner of Friday night’s match is in the drivers seat for the spot. Both teams know what’s at stake in that match”.
