The Jackets defeated South Alabama, Stetson and Florida A&M to continue their undefeated season and brought their record to 7-0 this past weekend. Tech dominated all three games without dropping any sets. Due to the team’s consistent success, Tech rose from number 11 to number 10 in the national polls. Freshman outside hitter Larissa Mendes led the team and earned ACC Co-Freshman of the Week for the second straight week. The wins were not an individual effort as the whole team contributed to a successful start to the season.
The Jackets started off the busy weekend with a match against the South Alabama Jaguars. Tech made light work of the Jaguars with a resounding 3-0 win. In the first set, Tech took a lead right away and did not give it up for the entire set, eventually winning 25-15. Both senior outside hitter Tamara Otene and sophomore middle blocker Liv Mogridge led the way with double-doubles in kills and digs. Mogridge also showed her presence on the defensive end of the floor, where she tallied a team leading four blocks. The veterans came up big as senior setter Bella D’Amico ran the offense contributing 27 assists, while senior libero Paola Pimentel anchored the defense with 20 digs.
After a dominant start to the weekend, the Jackets hoped to continue their roll against the Stetson Hatters. Tech would come out with another sensational 3-0 win against the Hatters. Tech dominated the game with the lead only changing hands four times. Not only did they control the game, but Tech also picked up their largest set victory margin of the year with a 25-12 score. The Jackets lead finishers were Mendes and Otene, who both accumulated double digit kills. Once again D’Amico set up a majority of the offense with 29 assists. Pimental, D’Amico and Otene all achieved double digit digs for the Jackets.
Tech was looking to close out the weekend with another win, and the team delivered with their most impressive victory of the whole weekend. The Jackets took down Florida A&M 3-0, making it three sweeps in three games. The Jackets dominated from the first serve, allowing the Rattlers just two leads over the three set contest. Tech had a hitting percentage of 35.4% which was almost three times better than Florida A&M’s percentage. The stand out performer against the Rattlers was by far D’Amico as she accounted for 40 out of Tech’s 43 assists.
After three dominant victories, the Jackets rose one place in the rankings: now sitting at number 10 in the nation. The Jackets are one of five undefeated teams left in the country and look to continue their winning ways into some of their most important matches on the season coming up.
On Sept. 15, Tech will take on Georgia in McCamish Pavilion at 7:00 P.M.. Tech has taken Georgia down 3-0 the past two seasons and looks to make it three seasons in a row. The next day, the Jackets will make their season debut in O’Keefe Gymnasium against the Howard Bison, and to finish out the weekend on Sunday, Tech will match up against one of last year’s final four teams: San Diego.