They just won’t stop playing 5 setters!
Drawn as a #7 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday and reaching their 5th straight NCAA Tournament, Georgia Tech Volleyball squared off with the Tennessee Volunteers in the UW Field House in Madison, Wisconsin for the first round of the Tournament, barely getting by 3-2 (25-18, 13-25, 32-30, 26-28, 15-11) to move on to the second round.
This was Tech’s fifth consecutive 5-set match and 11th of the season, ending a streak of four straight five set losses. Tech thankfully came in the match fully healthy, keeping head coach Michelle Collier’s preferred lineup and rotations out on the court the entire match.
Tamara Otene put Tech square on her shoulders, hitting .400 on 60 swings for a career high 33 kills along with 15 digs for her 13th double-double of the season. Bianca Bertolino also hit 60 attacks, landing 25 for kills at a .250 clip and 15 digs of her own.
Logan Wiley finished with a standout game in her first ever NCAA Tournament apperance, hitting 11 kills, many at crucial points in sets, plus had four block assists and a solo block. Luanna Emiliano recorded an assist-dig double double with 37 assists and 13 digs.
The match as a whole felt like the exact same process we’ve gone through the last four matches with Tech Volleyball to the point where a fifth set felt inevitable before even the third set got to it’s crazy score. These teams were so deadlocked once they had figured each other out that there were 39 ties in the match, only four coming before the third set.
This time, Tech squarely took a grasp of the fifth set when they needed to, a trait of theirs we saw in the first six five-set matches Tech played versus the last four. No time better than the entire season being on the line to finally get to that point.
Tech moves to 21-9 on the season and the 5th straight time they’ve made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Last year it took an upset of Florida to get into the Sweet 16. A win over Wisconsin, who is 24-6 with losses only to Louisville, Texas, Stanford, Minnesota, and Nebraska, would be a defining win of the Michelle Collier era, and potentially the biggest upset of her time at Tech.
It is going to require a level of consistency we haven’t seen Tech play at these last five matches to get past Wisconsin. If Tamara Otene can take over a match, Tech can get in the drivers seat, but then complementary volleyball has to come from Bertolino, Wiley, and the defense to ensure we get good looks. Tech can be thrown off their rhythm and unfortunately have been many times this season. This match was the first clue that they have the mental resiliency to withstand some bad form and get back into a match on their own.
How it happened
Set 1
Logan Wiley gave Tech their first small lead as the teams felt each other out, getting Tech’s first two kills for a 3-1 lead. The set held in that small gap, eventually Tennessee narrowing it to a string of ties from 9-9 to 12-12 before Tech went on a four point run to make it 16-12, only interrupted by one Tennessee point before going on another three point run to force the first Volunteer timeout up 19-13. The run stretched to five points for a 21-14 lead when Tennessee next scored, allowing Tech to cruise into a 25-18 set win.
Set 2 (1-0 GT)
Tennessee had total control of the set from the start, winning the first three points and keeping Tech at bay after their first little run…and then basically giving Tech no space to breathe. The Jackets went down 10 points at 19-9 and could not get out of their own way with attack errors and a very out of sync offense. Tennessee rolled to a 25-13 set win.
Set 3 (1-1)
Wiley like set one got Tech on the board early with a block and kill to go up 2-1, neither team getting any kind of real advantage up to 10-10 aside from a short Tennessee run. Tech went on a four point run from that 10-10 spot, forcing Tennessee’s first timeout down 14-10. Tech’s run went all the way to seven points at 16-10 after the timeout. Tech went up 19-13 after a Bertolino kill, but Tennessee’s challenge was successful after no touch was found at the net, turning it to an 18-14 game allowing for Tennessee’s mini run to continue. Their run completely erased Tech’s lead, lasting seven points before Otene hit a back row kill to tie it at 19-19.
The next string of points felt like the torture chamber Georgia Tech Volleyball has been in the last couple of weeks, going to extra points on the brink of losing a set they never should have lost. After a Tennessee service error on a 24-23 set point, Tennessee would have six additional set points that they didn’t win between more service errors and big time kills by Bertolino before Otene and Mendes set up set point, which Tech took from a Tennessee attack error to win 32-30.
Sets 4-5
At this point I had to step out and watch from my phone, so while I don’t have detailed notes, Tech in the fourth set actually got to set point first but the Vols took four of the next five points from being down 25-24 to take it in extra points again 28-26.
Set five went to an 11-11 tie before a pair of Wiley and Otene kills sealed the win for Tech, moving them on to the 2nd round.
Game Leaders
Kills: Tamara Otene (GT) – 33
Assists: Caroline Kerr (TENN) – 57
Digs: Sofia Velez (GT) – 19
Points: Tamara Otene (GT) – 33.5
Hit % (min. 10 attempts): Keondreya Granberry (TENN) – .416%
Blocks: Klaudia Pawlik – 8
Georgia Tech will face #2 seed and hosts Wisconsin in the 2nd Round at 8pm tonight on ESPN+.