Jackets Tame Jaguars, Advance to 2nd Round – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

GAINESVILLE, FLA. – No. 5 seed Georgia Tech volleyball (23-6, 13-4 ACC) powered past South Alabama (22-9, 12-4 SBC) on Thursday evening from inside Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The Jackets used a balanced attack and strong team defense to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row.

“Super excited about the opportunity to continue to play,” head coach Michelle Collier said. “We know how hard it is to get to this point and to win matches at this point, so definitely very proud of our team just pulling out the win. I want to congratulate South Alabama. They’re a great team. They’ve been doing a great job all season. They definitely earned it to be here. Again, we got to now watch the next match and get ready for the next one.”

QUICK HITS

• Georgia Tech has now won at least one NCAA Tournament match in four straight seasons for the first time in program history (2020-2023).
• The Jackets improve to 15-12 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches and 6-3 in the Michelle Collier era.
• Junior middle blocker DeAndra Pierce set a new career high with 11 kills. She did so on .667 hitting, the highest hitting percentage by a Jacket in an NCAA Tournament match lasting longer than three sets (modern scoring era).
• Freshman setter Heloise Soares set a career high with three aces in her NCAA Tournament debut. That total ties Bianca Bertolino (12/4/21) for the most aces by a Jacket in an NCAA Tournament match in the modern scoring era.
• Freshman opposite Larissa Mendes recorded 12 kills on .458 hitting, the most kills by a Georgia Tech freshman in her NCAA Tournament debut in program history.
• Senior outside hitter Tamara Otene recorded a double-double (15 kills, 13 digs). It was her 15^th of the season, 23^rd of her career and her 1^st in an NCAA Tournament match. Both her kill and dig totals were career highs for an NCAA Tournament match.
• Senior libero Paola Pimentel led the team with 15 digs – a new career best for digs in an NCAA Tournament match.
• The Jackets made six aces today, tying the program modern scoring era record for aces in an NCAA Tournament match.
• Junior outside hitter Bianca Bertolino made 13 digs. She has now recorded double digit digs in four of her last five NCAA Tournament matches, dating back to 2021.
• Senior setter Bella D’Amico recorded her 2000^th career assists today, finishing with 18 to push her career total to 2,007.

Set By Set

Set 1 (GT, 25-19): The Jackets set the tone early on, taking a 6-1…