On a day when most Georgia Tech fans’ were directing their attention to the continuing travails of the Yellow Jackets football team, another Tech team was doing what Tech fans thrill to most – beating Georgia.
Tech’s volleyball victory over the Bulldogs – in Athens, no less – followed both cross-country teams finishing ahead of the Bulldogs (and many other schools’ teams) at the North Alabama Showcase on Friday. Since the start of the 2021-22 school year, Tech teams are now 13-4 in head-to-head regular-season competitions against Georgia, a highly unusual (and possibly unprecedented) stretch of all-sports success for Tech’s athletic department in the Clean Old-Fashioned Hate rivalry.
Saturday, the Jackets volleyball team, ranked seventh nationally, swept Georgia in Stegeman Coliseum, 25-19, 25-17, 25-21. It was Tech’s second win in a row over the Bulldogs and improved coach Michelle Collier’s record to 5-3 against UGA. Tech improved to 7-2 for the season while UGA dropped its record to 9-2.
The Jackets were led again by outside hitter Julia Bergmann (16 kills and 18 points, both game highs). Outside hitters Tamara Otene (11 kills) and Bianca Bertolino (10 kills) were also leading contributors. Tech was coming off a four-set loss to No. 24 Arkansas Thursday in Fayetteville, Ark.
After losing the first 20 matches in the Georgia series 1980-98 – the Jackets didn’t even take a set off UGA in the first 10 – Tech has now won 19 of the past 23 meetings.
Both the Tech men and women’s cross-country teams finished third at the North Alabama Showcase in Huntsville, Ala., both finishing behind Alabama in first and Kentucky in second. Tech’s top finisher in the men’s race was John Higinbotham, who covered the 8,000-meter course in 24:00.86 to take 10th.
The Tech women’s team had two top-10 finishers in the 3,000-meter race, Liz Galarza (fourth, 16:38.96) and Helena Lindsay (seventh, 16:49.08).
The UGA men’s team was 10th and the women’s entry was 13th.
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