THE FLATS – No. 5 seed Georgia Tech volleyball (22-6, 13-5 ACC) kicks off its 2023 NCAA Tournament campaign with a first-round matchup against South Alabama (22-8, 12-4 SBC) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. from inside Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. The winner of the Tech vs. USA match will play the winner of the No. 4 seed Florida (18-9, 10-8 SEC) vs. Florida Gulf Coast (26-6, 15-1 ASUN)
Coverage
- Thursday, Nov. 30 | No. 5 Georgia Tech vs. South Alabama| 4:30 p.m. | ESPN+ | Watch | Live Stats
- Thursday, Nov. 30 | No. 4 Florida vs. Florida Gulf Coast| 7 p.m. | ESPN+ | Watch | Live Stats
- Friday, Dec. 1 | NCAA Tournament Round 2 | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Storylines
- The Jackets are back in the NCAA Tournament for the 4th year in a row and the 13th time in program history.
- Tech is one of just 14 programs across Division I to have qualified for this year’s tournament after winning at least one match in the previous three NCAA Tournaments.
- GT was ranked No. 12 in the latest AVCA Coaches’ Poll, marking 69 straight weeks in the AVCA Top 25
- Georgia Tech has beaten two Top 10 opponents in the same season for the first time in program history (No. 8 Penn State and No. 3 Louisville). Four of Tech’s seven all-time wins over Top 10 teams have come in the last three seasons.
- Tech had four Jackets honored in the end-of-year ACC awards: Bianca Bertolino and Tamara Otene were named 1st Team All-ACC while Heloise Soares and Larissa Mendes earned All-Freshman Team honors.
- The Yellow Jackets boast one of the top defenses in the nation, leading the ACC with 14.86 digs/set.
- Otene has made 306 digs this season, the third most by a Power 5 hitter and the most among pins in the ACC.
- Pimentel has been leading the Tech back row with 4.14 digs/set this year, 3rd in the ACC. She is averaging 3.61 digs/set over her career, on pace for the second-best average in program history.
- Tech & Arkansas are the only Power 5 teams with 3 players with over 275 digs: Pimentel (431), Otene (306) & Bertolino (281)
- Bianca Bertolino is averaging .59 aces/set – the 2nd highest in the Power 5 and 5th in Divison I. That average would set a new ACC record for aces/set in the modern scoring era – no ACC player has had over .60 aces/set in a season since 2007.
- She is 3 aces away from tying the GT record for aces in a single season (modern scoring era), set back in 2019 by Julia Bergmann.
- Bertolino is the only player in Power 5 to have 300+ kills, 250+ digs and 50+ aces this season.
- Six…
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