THE FLATS – Georgia Tech volleyball (12-9, 7-5 ACC) continues its five-match road swing with another pair of ACC matches up north starting with Boston College (15-9, 4-8 ACC) on Friday followed by Syracuse (13-9, 5-7 ACC) on Sunday.
Storylines
- The Yellow Jackets are coming off yet another sweeping week after downing Virginia in five sets and Virginia Tech in three. The pair of road wins last week marked wins for Tech in five of its last six contests, with the only loss being to No. 5 Stanford.
- Last week saw Noemi Despainge (25), Anna Fiedorowicz (24), and DeAndra Pierce (21) lead the Yellow Jackets’ offense with 20+ kills respectively.
- Pierced boasted a .405 attack percentage last week which was bested only by Bianca Garibaldi who finished with a .520 attack percentage with 15 kills on 25 swings.
- Both Pierce and Garibaldi find themselves ranked top-10 in the conference for hitting percentage, Pierce third with a .411 hitting percentage and Garibaldi sixth with a .392.
- The sophomore from Argentina also sits eighth in the ACC for blocks, average 1.30 blocks per set this season, good for a team high 96 total blocks.
- Her .392 hitting percentage ranks her 30th national meanwhile her 1.30 blocks per set rank her 40th
- Sofia Velez most recently recorded her 17th game of the season, her fifth consecutive match, with double digit digs. Her 10 digs bring her to 122 games recording 10+ digs out of 131 total collegiate games.
- Velez sits seventh in the ACC for digs, leading the Jackets with 304 total digs, averaging 3.85 digs per set.
- Heloise Soares has been Tech’s primary setter this season, leading the group with 723 assists, while freshman Abi Li has seen action in Tech’s last four outings.
- Soares 9.15 assists per set are good for an eighth place ACC ranking. In conference only action, Soares sits third in the ACC for assist with 460 total, averaging 10.70 per set.
- Regardless of having a more quiet week offensively last week, freshman Mimi Mambu leads Tech’s offense overall with 210 kills, averaging 2.92 kills per set. Fiedorowicz leads the Jackets’ offense in ACC play with 141 kills, averaging 3.28 kills per set.
- Mambu’s 580 attempts put her on track to be the most for a true-freshman since Bianca Bertolino’s freshman season in 2021 where she had 701 total attempts.
- Nationally the Yellow Jackets are just shy of the top-50 for both assists per set (58th; 12.46 assist/set) and blocks per set (59th; 2.43 blocks/set).
- As a team, Tech sits third in the ACC for opponent digs, with opponents averaging 11.06 digs per set, and fifth for assists averaging 12.46 a set.
- Tech currently sits seventh in the ACC with its 7-5 conference record and has the fifth hardest schedule for an ACC team this season behind No. 3 Pitt, No. 10 SMU, No. 7 Louisville, and No. 5 Stanford.
- Despite dropping from the rankings earlier this season, the Yellow Jackets continue to receive votes in the AVCA Poll.
Series Notes
- Tech leads in the overall series against Boston College, 27-5, and leads in sets won, 87-29. On the road, Tech holds a 9-3 record.
- The last five meetings between the Eagles and the Yellow Jackets have resulted in a Tech victory and seen Tech drop only two sets while recording four sweeps.
- The Jackets lead in the overall series against the Orange, 11-6 and leads in sets won, 35-25.
- Despite trailing 5-2 in road matches against Syracuse, Tech enters Sunday’s match on a seven-match win streak, with their last loss to the Orange being during the 2018 season.
- Five of those matches saw the Yellow Jackets claim victory in three sets while the other two saw Tech drop only one set.
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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