Jackets Power Past New Mexico State – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

THE FLATS – No. 14 Georgia Tech volleyball (1-1) returned to its winning ways on Sunday afternoon, dispatching of New Mexico State (1-1) in four sets: 25-13, 25-13, 21-25, 25-11. Sophomore right side Larissa Mendes drove the Yellow Jackets offensively, finishing with a career-best 23 kills on .500 hitting as Tech collected its first win of the 2024 season.

QUICK HITS

• Georgia Tech fans filled O’Keefe Gym marking the 30^th consecutive sellout for the program dating back to the 2021 season.
• Mendes finished with a career-best 23 kills, the most kills by a Georgia Tech underclassman since three-time All-American and Olympic medalist, Julia Bergmann, made 31 against Lipscomb back in 2021 (April 14, 2021).
• Mendes made those 23 kills on .500 hitting, her fourth career .500+ hitting performance.
• Senior outside hitter Tamara Otene secured her second double-double of the season and 24^th of her career, finishing with 13 kills and 13 digs. It marks the first time in her five-year collegiate career that she has started a season with back-to-back double-doubles.
• Otene didn’t stop there, securing three service aces, matching her career-best for the fourth time.
• Senior outside hitter Bianca Bertolino and junior DS/L Sofia Velez led the defense with 16 digs each (4.00/set).
• Bertolino has secured 36 digs through just two matches, giving her 1,040 over her career, the 9^th most by a Jacket in the modern scoring era (since 2008).
• Bertolino was her usual self from the service line, racking up four aces. She now has seven aces this season and 111 over her career, just five shy of cracking the Top 10 for most career aces in program history.
• For the second match in a row, senior middle blocker DeAndra Pierce was the most efficient scorer, racking up eight kills on .538 hitting. She is off to a strong start in her senior season with 15 kills on .480 hitting through two matches.
• Junior middle blocker Liv Mogridge was a force at the net, making eight kills along with a team-high four blocks.
• Senior setter Luanna Emiliano delivered her first 40+ assist match in White & Gold, securing 43 assists. She now owns 3,743 career assists after transferring into the program from UTRGV over the offseason.
• This was head coach Michelle Collier’s 198^th victory at Tech as she pushes to become only the second GT head coach to achieve 200 wins on The Flats.

SET BY SET

Set 1 (GT 25 – NMSU 13)

After trading points to start the match, Tech went on a 6-0 run to take an 8-5 lead, causing New Mexico State to…