Tech’s first ranked win of the season
#19 Georgia Tech Volleyball did what very few have ever done in the last decade, and that is beat #14 BYU in their own building in Provo. They did so in a five set 3-2 win (21-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 15-13), becoming only the 10th road victor in the last 10 years at BYU. Tech moves to 4-1 on the season and are on a four game winning streak.
The efforts from the whole team can’t be understated, but Tamara Otene and Larissa Mendes deserve all the praise they can get for their performances. Otene finished with a game high 24 kills at .278%, and Mendes was right behind her with 21 kills hiting .459%, the best rate of all players.
Tech took an astounding 180 swings over the five sets, hitting .239 as a team with 70 assists between Heloise Soares and Luanna Emiliano. By hitting so freely though, they did rack up 28 errors to BYU’s 17. Otene, Mendes, Bertolino, and Sofia Velez all recorded at least 13 digs, Velez the most of the bunch with 16.
This match never would’ve reached five sets without BYU’s star in Claire Little, who seemingly could hit a kill from any ball on the floor, finishing with 20 and hitting .442%, one dig away from a double double. Otene and Bertolino both recorded double double’s for Tech.
How it happened
1st set
BYU got started quickly with a kill and block by Bobik to go up 3-0, which Tech countered with a 5-1 run. Both teams were defending quite well despite heavy attacks, keeping the score within one all the way to 10-10 before BYU caught some luck with a serve clipping the net onto the floor to go up 12-10. Otene countered with a kill but Tech then hit two float serves long to reach the media timeout down 15-12.
BYU caught momentum out of the timeout though, landing a setter kill and getting a back row attack call on Heloise Soares, forcing a Tech timeout up 18-13. With the Soares/Laura Fischer 6-2 rotation in, they did not get any rhythm out of the timeout losing the next two points with mediocre setting, calling another timeout down 20-13. A Pierce kill and Velez ace started a three point run, forcing BYU’s first timeout down 20-16 to stem any momentum. Laura Fischer had a free hit on the first point out of the timeout with BYU way out of system, but it went long, stopping Tech’s run.
BYU and Tech then traded three point runs to 23-19 where BYU called their final timeout, halting Tech’s run, ending the set on a Bertolino service error. Defensively, it was an impressive set both ways with Tech hitting .051% and BYU only .100%. Tech had 16 digs to BYU’s 15, but BYU won the net with six blocks to Tech’s one.
2nd set (BYU 1-0)
Tech got off to a much better start in the second with kills by Bertolino and Mogridge plus an ace from Bertolino for a quick 3-0 lead. A couple points into Soares/Fischer’s first 6-2 rotation, Michelle Collier switched Leia Harper to the right side spot over Fischer after a couple shaky points. Tech began utilizing the tip attack much more frequently and it kept BYU off system, getting them to a 10-7 lead. While Bertolino had her third service error, Larissa Mendes found some form getting three kills in a short span until she was rotated out up 14-12. BYU tied it at 15 with some impressive out of system kills before Bertolino finally got going in system, hitting two kills to go up 18-16 and forcing a Cougar timeout.
Bianca’s next service run lasted three points with an ace and Mendes’ seventh kill of the match to go up 22-17. Emiliano landed a perfect setter sneak kill for Tech’s 23rd point. Mendes eighth kill found the left corner for the 24th, and Elli Mortensen had one of those brain fart serves that barely hit the hand to give Tech the set 25-20.
Tech hit .357 in the second set, playing much more steadily on offense with contributions from all of Bertolino, Mendes, and Otene as needed. The entire offense was good about changing speeds on attack between full swings and tip shots, which helped keep BYU out of system for a lot of the set.
3rd set (1-1)
Again Tech got out to a 3-0 lead, including a block from Leia Harper before it all just crumbled in a flash. BYU won seven of the next eight points with Tech horribly out of system and Otene not putting strong swings on the ball, forcing an early timeout down 7-4. BYU held the lead and grew it to five at 13-7 on a four point run. Lauren Sanden then came in for Velez and immediately got a dig to contribute to a Bertolino kill to make it 13-9 BYU.
BYU got the lead back to five at 15-10, in part by targeting Velez. Bertolino got back to the line and hit her third ace as part of a three point run to bring it to 15-13. From there, Tech would get good kills from a variety of players, but never could string anything together with how good BYU’s out of system play was, notably from Claire Little who had seven kills in the set. Tech got to within one at 19-18, but then allowed a 7-1 BYU run to end the set. The Cougars hit .324 in the set to Tech’s .139.
4th set (BYU 2-1)
For the third set in a row, Tech was out firing but got a bigger lead at 5-1 with kills from Bertolino and Otene, plus a net violation by BYU before they called timeout. Mogridge hit a service error right out of the timeout but Otene hit two solid kills in a row to make it 8-3. Harper hit what is probably the best kill of her Tech career to make it 9-5 before BYU went on a 4-1 run, forcing Tech’s first timeout up 10-9.
From there it was back and forth, Tech holding the one point advantage through points of insane digs by both teams. Mendes and Otene both had multiple kills, Harper stayed relevant with another kill of her own, Little continuted to get points out of system and on the block. Tech finally created a multi-point gap with Bertolino at the service line, and she slotted her fourth ace of the game to go up 20-17, forcing BYU’s final timeout. Mendes hit a great out of system kill a couple points later to make it 22-18 before Mogridge’s first ace of the match made it 23-18. Otene’s 19th and 20th kills of the match sealed it and sent us to the 5th.
5th set (2-2)
Tech looked very tight to start the set, digging with much less confidence and allowing multiple overpasses. Mendes got her 20th kill of the match but Tech was in a 6-3 hole, calling their timeout of the set. A BYU service error kickstarted what became a 5-0 run for Tech, including a Mendes kill and block and multiple BYU hitting errors to make it 9-7 Tech.
Coming out of their first timeout, BYU tied it on a Mortensen kill and Mendes net violation. From there they traded points all the way to 12-11 when Otene hit her second of consecutive klils to make it 13-11 Tech, forcing BYU’s second timeout. Otene hit a third straight kill to set up multiple match points before Soares hit a service error and Claire Little lasered a serve right at Bertolino to make it 14-13, forcing Collier to call Tech’s final timeout.
Stats and game leaders
Stats via BYU
Game Leaders
Kills: Tamara Otene (GT) – 24
Assists: Luanna Emiliano (GT) – 40
Digs: Sofia Velez (GT)/Lulu Uluave (BYU) – 16
Points: Tamara Otene (GT) – 19
Hit % (min. 10 attempts): Larissa Mendes (GT) – .459%
Blocks: Brielle Kemavor (BYU) – 6
Takeaways
Mendes: Larissa is clearly at another level. Her efficiency against a solid team is one of the best signs of progress this team could have. If she stays anywhere close to this, we’re looking at the first true three headed attacking monster we’ve had since the year of the Killer B’s (Bertolino/Bergmann/Brambilla). And, she did had the night she had without being on the court for every point as Collier utilized the 6-2 rotation every set.
Otene: Similar to Mendes, she looks so much more composed and is getting over the top of balls better than last year. Having Emiliano does help with that with setting consistency, but her attacks landed with a ferocity over the entire match that would appear in flashes last season. It may only be the 5th game, but this is what we need to be elite and win these kinds of matches. Bertolino wasn’t perfect tonight (four aces but also six service errors), so getting what we did from Otene and Mendes was necessary to get out of Provo unscathed.
It felt more dominant than the scoreboard showed: BYU seemed to almost want to play out of system. Tech didn’t have much trouble on average getting good swings in (or tip shots) to get the Cougars on their toes, but they time and time again kept finding ways to dig themselves out of a hole when Tech could’ve put points away. I laud their defense for that as they had three players with 12+ digs. If it weren’t for Tech hitting so many kills, the fact Tech had more service errors, fewer blocks, and more attack errors you’d think would hand this match on a silver platter for BYU, but it never looked that easy nor did they look that dominant.
Going forward, this is a huge win going into the Florida game at McCamish Pavilion on Wednesday night. If you haven’t bought your tickets already, do it! If you won’t be there, the game is at 7pm on ESPN2.