GT Volleyball: Back Home and Sweeping

ATLANTA — It was a good night to be back at O’Keefe Gymnasium for the best volleyball team inside the perimeter. #10 Georgia Tech took care of business sweeping Boston College 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-18) for their 14th win of the year and 7th in ACC play in front of President Angel Cabrera, Beth Cabrera, and the recently hired AD J Batt. Julia Bergmann lead the Jackets with 18 kills on 44 attempts, while Paola Pimentel lead with 11 digs. Erin Moss had the game high 9 blocks. Bergmann, Otene, Morrissette all had 5 a piece.

Unlike last week where Tech fell apart in stretches that allowed Duke to win a set, Tech took care of business when they needed to and never let the Eagles even have a whiff at winning a set. BC pulled within a point down 20-19 in the first set, right when Tech went on a six of seven scoring run to secure the set by six points.

Tech was on track to win the 2nd set 25-5 at one point, and had a boatload of set points to close it out. Thankfully of any point to let BC have their biggest run of the match it was when they were leading 24-8. The Eagles scored five straight points before Bridget Green hit the net on her 5th consecutive serve to give Tech the set win.

Similar to the first set, Tech found themselves in a moment where they had a shot to put away the match with minimal stress, and actually did it. Up 19-16, BC called timeout after Bergmann served a pair of aces to stretch the lead to three. Tech won four of the next five out of the timeout with three kills (Bergmann, Morrissette, Moss) and had the wiggle room to win the set 25-19. Curiously, in the spots Collier has been putting Elizabeth Patterson in to serve and add defense, she did not pull that string tonight and stayed with the starters to close out each set.

Favorite fun stat of the night: BC hit .000%.

Tech is now 14-4 overall, having a +10 win differential for the first time all season. They are squarely in 3rd place in the ACC behind Louisville and Pittsburgh and one game up on 4th place Syracuse.

Three Thoughts on the win...

1. Garbage time in the 2nd set: Collier tapped into the bench for a 3 person sub up 16-3, inserting Nicole Drewnick, Laura Fischer, and Leia Harper. Rarely has she put in that many subs at once all season, nevermind that early in the match. The score afforded the opportunity, and with only nine points needed to win with Bergmann still on the floor, it certainly was as good a time as any to give some starters a rest and mix things up. BC did win the next three points though, so it didn’t last all that long.
2. Play of the year candidate: The video hasn’t been posted for this yet, so I’ll do my best to describe it here. On a poor dig attempt, Pimentel had to scramble and run towards Tech’s bench to save the point with one hit left. The bench cleared and Pimentel was able to hit it backwards towards Morrissette on the left edge. Pimentels set didn’t get all that close to the net, so Morrissette was left with her blind and backwards shot that landed perfectly in between all of BC’s player for a kill. O’Keefe appropriately began to explose in noise and cheer.
3. Closing out sets: I mentioned it above, but it deserves its own talking point. Closing out sets has been a real problem for Tech this year and becoming a noticeable pattern throughout the season. The first and third sets were perfectly set up for Tech to stop the pattern, and they did so. Syracuse will not be a cake walk on Sunday, so seeing the Jackets hold the outmatched Eagles to under 20 points a set is a very promising sign that the confidence to get the job done sooner rather than later is there.

#10 Georgia Tech is back in action on Sunday hosting Syracuse at 1pm in front of a sold out O’Keefe Gymnasium. If you see me there, please come say hi!

TV: ACCNX