Yet again overpowered by a top 5 team with little to answer with
Two days after squeaking out a nailbiting five-set win over Notre Dame, #19 Georgia Tech Volleyball gets swept by #4 Louisville in the L&N House of Pain 3-0 (20-25, 16-25, 25-27) behind a thundering 18 kill performance by Charitie Luper and a Cardinals defense that held Tech to a .064 hit percentage over the three sets.
In Tech’s 10 regular season trips to Louisville dating back to 2014, they have gone winless in all of them, and came within four points of winning only their second ever set in such games today (2022. Tech’s other set came during the loss 3-1 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament in Freedom Hall). When we call the building the L&N House of Pain, that’s the reason for that.
Bianca Bertolino and Larissa Mendes led Tech with seven kills apiece, Mendes being Tech’s most efficient hitter at only .211. Otene had her first truly off game, hitting -.107 with six kills and nine errors, including a service error during Louisville’s third set comeback. The less than optimal play came teamwide more than anything, as Louisville was very good about keeping Tech out of system for a lot of the match and putting up an astounding 13 blocks, eight coming from Hannah Sherman. Tech’s five blocks (1.25/set) was under their season rate so far of 1.83, which will keep them in last in the ACC in the category.
How It Happened
Set 1
Tech came out much faster on offense compared to the Notre Dame game on Friday, getting quality kills from Mogridge, Otene, and Pierce during the first 20 points where there were 10 ties and five lead changes before Louisville hit a 7-1 run to go up 17-11, forcing Tech’s first timeout. At that point, Louisville’s defense was doing a great job holding Tech to minimal clear offensive opportunities and were hitting .579 on 19 swings and 13 kills.
Louisville stretched the run to 9-1, which at 19-12 Ashlyn Goolsby and Laura Fischer came in for the first 6-2 rotation, adding needed height at the net in Fischer. That proved to be a huge help in changing Tech’s dynamic getting points off overpasses, a Fischer block, and the first of Bertolino’s kills resulting in a three point and four point run to pull Tech within three at 22-19. Tech momentarily had it at 22-20 on a Bertolino kill, but a successful Louisville challenge of a no touch effectivley doubled Louisville’s lead to 23-19. Two Charitie Luper kills ended the set at 25-20.
Set 2 (1-0 Louisville)
Louisville’s block scored three of their first six points, forcing a very early Tech timeout down 6-1. The rest of the set felt the same in terms of Louisville’s dominance. Tech did not have the passing strung together well enough to stay in system from point to point. Collier tried using Anna Boezi in the 6-2 with Goolsby, but Louisville just kept scoring, including Anna Debeer landing a kill over a triple block, forcing Tech’s second timeout down 14-5. Two blocks later and Louisville stretched the lead to 10 up 19-9.
A successful Cardinals challenge made it 21-10. From there Tech found a little life to get six points, but Louisville was far too much ahead for it to make a difference, winning 25-16.
Set 3 (2-0 Louisville)
Out of nowhere, Tech looked much more composed to start the third, coming out with an Emiliano ace and Mogridge kill before a couple of errors and an Otene ace forced Louisville’s earliest timeout of the match with Tech leading 6-2. Louisville did not have the composure and efficiency of the first two sets, missing attacks and serves while Tech’s defense was improved plus got in system with more regularity.
Tech’s lead hovered around four through almost the entire set, at one point getting to six leading 21-15, which is right where Louisville turned the jets back on. A 9-3 Cardinal run from a reawakened block and Anna Debeer had match point at 24-23 before a Mogridge/Mendes block thankfully kept Tech alive. Mendes got one more block on Louisville’s second match point to make it 25-25 before Debeer landed back to back kills to complete the sweep 27-25.
Stats & Game Leaders
Stats via Louisville
Game Leaders
Kills: Charitie Luper (LOU) – 15
Assists: Nayelis Cabello (LOU) – 22
Digs: Sofia Velez (GT)/Elena Scott (LOU) – 14
Points: Charitie Luper (LOU) – 16.5
Hit % (min. 10 attempts): Charitie Luper (LOU) – .542
Blocks: Hannah Sherman (LOU) – 8
Takeaways
Tech vs. the best: In talking with our volleyball focused staff during the match, the thing that revealed itself about this team is that they don’t have moments of overpowering the best teams, they merely sneak points when the best teams are on a mini-slump. In the six sets against #1 Pitt and #4 Louisville, Tech has been outscored 152-97. Only in the third set today was Tech even truly competitive by the end. Granted, they’ve been without Heloise Soares, which significantly affects how well the 6-2 runs, but for a team that last year beat Louisville and took Pitt to five sets on the road, this has been a regression in these kind of games this season. We are still in the front of the season, but games like this have been part of a multi-season arc that have the ever sparing upset by Tech while unranked teams are knocking off ranked teams all over the place.
We are in win every game territory: Today ended the early ACC phase highlighted by the SMU/Pitt/Louisville games. We knew anything better than 2-2 was highly unlikely, and 1-3 a possibilty that we now are living. The next phase of the schedule can make or break the entire season for Tech because it’s a string of teams that recently have been little issue for Tech: Virginia Tech, Virginia, Clemson, @ Clemson, NC State, Wake Forest, @ Duke, @ UNC. It’s five very winnable home games. The only game I would even consider one we have a shot at losing is UNC considering they have one of the better hitters in the ACC in Mabrey Shaffmaster. If Tech is any worse than 8-4 in ACC by the end of this stretch, Tech’s tournament life may require an upset win over any of Stanford or Pitt in the three remaining games against them.