June 4, 2014
THE FLATS – One home tournament, nine matches against 2013 NCAA Tournament participants and 13 home contests at O’Keefe Gym highlight the Georgia Tech volleyball team’s 2014 schedule, head coach Michelle Collier announced Wednesday.
“Our 2014 schedule is going to be very challenging and every match will be a battle,” Collier said. “Having 13 of these battles at home is awesome; we are looking forward to playing close to our fans and families.
“Pre-season competition will expose our team to a lot of different styles of play and help us prepare for the strong and demanding ACC season. I am excited to get my first season underway and make it a memorable one for the Jackets.”
Georgia Tech has compiled a 266-227 (.540) record against the 2014 competition and is set to compete against five teams for the first time during Collier’s first season at the helm of the program.
The Jackets play in four tournaments on consecutive weekends before kicking off ACC action. Tech is on the road for the first three weekends, beginning August 29 at the Gamecock Invitational where the Jackets take on Jacksonville, Gardner Webb and South Carolina. Collier coached at Jacksonville from 2012-13, before coming to Tech.
The following weekend, Tech travels to Texas for the SMU Tournament, featuring SMU, Oklahoma and Texas Southern. A weekend trip to Nashville, Tenn. for the Lipscomb Invitational to play the Bison, Utah and East Tennessee State wraps up Tech’s road tournament schedule.
Georgia Tech returns home Sept. 19 to host the Georgia Tech Invitational, which draws state rival Georgia, Alabama A&M and Southern Miss. Tech’s final non-conference game is Sept. 23 at O’Keefe against a surprisingly first-time opponent – Kennesaw State.
The Jackets play 18 conference matches, with just four repeat opponents (Clemson, Wake Forest, Miami and NC State) and nine teams take on Tech in front of its home crowd at O’Keefe Gymnasium. Tech begins conference play on the road Sept. 26 at 2013 ACC Champion Duke and Sept. 28 at ACC newcomer Louisville.
The Jackets return home to host three-straight matches Florida State (Oct. 3), Wake Forest (Oct. 5) and NC State (Oct. 10), before making the short trip to Clemson (Oct. 12).
Tech hosts Pittsburgh (Oct. 17), travels to Miami (Oct. 19) and returns home for two matches against Syracuse (Oct. 24) and North Carolina (Oct. 26). A trip to South Bend, Ind. for a match up at Notre Dame (Oct. 31) wraps up a busy October.
A home match against Boston College (Nov. 14) is bookended by pairs of road matches at Wake Forest (Nov. 7) and NC State (Nov. 9), and at Virginia (Nov. 21) and at Virginia Tech (Nov. 22).
Miami (Nov. 26) and Clemson (Nov. 28) visit O’Keefe to wrap up Tech’s 2014 regular season schedule.
For an inside look at the program, follow Georgia Tech volleyball on Twitter, @GTVolleyball, Instagram, GTVolleyball, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, Georgia Tech Volleyball.
