Georgia Tech’s trip to the NCAA volleyball regionals could turn out to be a history-making errand. The Yellow Jackets, the eighth national seed, took out ninth-seeded Ohio State in three sets Thursday afternoon in Louisville, Ky., to advance to the Elite 8 and a shot at their first-ever Final Four.
They will be confronted on Saturday by the most resolute of challenges – top-seeded and undefeated Louisville.
“Happy for our program, our school,” Tech coach Michelle Collier said at a news conference after the match. “Just excited to be in a place where we haven’t been in a very long time.”
The last – and only – time that the Jackets have reached a regional final was in 2003, when the Jackets lost to Hawaii.
Tech (26-5) earned its 16th sweep of the season, 25-22, 26-24, 25-21, while Ohio State (27-6) lost without winning a set for only the second time this season. All three sets were tightly contested. In the first, Ohio State led 17-15 before Tech won the next five points, four with outside hitter Julia Bergmann on serve, before holding on to win.
In the second set, the Jackets faced a set point at 24-23 that would have been Tech’s first lost set of the tournament. But two consecutive kills by Bergmann, the ACC player of the year, and then a solo block by middle blocker Breland Morrissette gave the Jackets the second set.
“I was talking with Matti (McKissock) about that after the game,” right-side hitter Mariana Brambilla said. “I was like, I knew we were going to win that set. Because I just felt that we had a confidence, and we were like, O.K, one point at a time, we can come back in this set, we can win. I think it was just really confidence that we could win that set.”
The Jackets controlled the third set, leading 23-17 before Ohio State made a late rally to close to 23-20. A kill by Morrissette, on setter McKissock’s 42nd assist of the game, finished off the Buckeyes and set off a celebration on the Jackets’ side of the net.
Brambilla was the Jackets’ standout at Louisville’s Freedom Hall, leading in both kills (18) and digs (18).
Tech’s biggest challenge of the season is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. Louisville swept the Jackets twice, although Tech pushed the Cardinals on both occasions. The second set in the Oct. 3 loss at O’Keefe Gymnasium was a 36-34 marathon in which the Jackets had six set points but couldn’t convert.
“Louisville’s a really good team, and we’re super excited to play them,” McKissock said. “We respect them a lot as a team. They’re awesome people and players. So we’re really excited to be able to play them again and I know we’re both going to go hard in that match.”
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