What we have with Georgia Tech Volleyball is the same we have now with Georgia Tech Golf, a team that will always be competitive in every game they play and could beat literally any team on any given day. Michelle Collier in her now 11th year as Tech’s head coach has built one of the most stable, well-respected collegiate volleyball programs in the country, and has done so in her own way while owning the fact that it is Georgia Tech she is coaching for, not your standard Power 4 school.
On the surface, Georgia Tech was picked to finish 4th in the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll behind Pitt, Stanford, and Louisville in that order. The additions of Stanford, Cal, and SMU have increased the overall quality of the ACC, as Stanford has regularly been in the top 5 while SMU was one of the better AAC teams and commonly flirted with getting ranked. For Tech, this means going from the consensus third best team in the conference to the fourth.
The preseason AVCA rankings show just that. Tech is 14th (six spots better than 2023’s preseason poll), making it the 71st consecutive AVCA poll they have been ranked in, dating all the way back to the 2020 AVCA preseason poll. The ACC has five teams ranked with Pitt, Stanford, and Louisville all ranked next to each other at sixth, seventh, and eighth. Florida State sits behind Tech at 20th.
What Happened in 2022
After losing arguably the best player in program history, Julia Bergmann, the main question was how the pieces behind her would come together without a first-team All-American spearheading the attack. It came in the form of Bianca Bertolino, who unveiled one of the best jump serves in the country that singlehandedly won close matches on multiple occasions.
Tech began the season with a flurry of impressive wins, beating #8 Penn State and #12 Ohio State (two matches) in three consecutive games, jumping to #11 in the country while playing the local directional schools. Tech again set their home attendance record in McCamish Pavilion against UGA with 5,303 folks, falling 3-1 in a Sophie Fischer dominated game.
From there Tech ran the table for six straight games, but lost starting middle blocker Liv Mogridge to a knee injury that kept her out for most of the season, forcing Texas transfer DeAndra Pierce and Anna Boezi to step in as the primary middle blocking pair. Setter Bella D’Amico simultaneously was having trouble finding consistency on her sets, forcing Collier to use Heloise Soares much more than likely planned from the outset.
It took time for them to adjust to both of these changes. The loss of Mogridge’s height and playmaking was not an immediate fix Pierce and Boezi could combine to make. And then for D’Amico, Collier then started using a 6-2 rotation that would bring in Heloise Soares with Smiley Manyang to sub for D’Amico/Larissa Mendes, a pattern that stuck through the rest of the season.
That all in part contributed to Tech’s four straight five-set matches played, all wins except for a reverse-sweep loss to #7 Pitt. By the time Miami rolled into O’Keefe, Tech was simply out of gas and got pummeled 3-0 in O’Keefe for the first time since October 2022 vs. Louisville.
The recovery was swift, going on another six-game win streak (without Mogridge) which included the best home win in program history, a 3-1 victory over #3 Louisville, becoming only the second time Tech had beaten a top-3 team ever.
After again losing to Pitt and Miami, Tech was slotted in the exact same place in the NCAA Tournament bracket as in 2022, the #5-seed in the #1 team’s quadrant, effectively getting first team out from hosting consideration. After a win over South Alabama in the first round, Tech faced regional hosts #4-seed Florida, upsetting them in five sets in one of the better matches ever by a Tech team, putting the Jackets past the 2nd round for the first time since 2021.
The Sweet Sixteen though put them against the at the time undisputed #1 in the country, Nebraska, falling quickly in three sets.
Returning Players
The biggest point of optimism we have for the 2024 team is that much of the offensive and defensive production remains, along with lots of upperclassmen. Tamara Otene, DeAndra Pierce, Lauren Sanden, Bianca Bertolino, Leia Harper, Ashlyn Goolsby, and Laura Fischer all are entering their senior seasons, while Liv Mogridge and Anna Boezi go into their junior years. Between all of them and the new transfers, 50% of the 2024 roster is a junior or above.
That group alone has four of the likely seven starters we’ll see Michelle Collier roll out on a regular basis. The other returning starter will be sophomore Larissa Mendes, who in the Gold/White Game looked significantly stronger, adding pace to her attacks and serve. Those lesser seen in 2023 also returning are Zoe Winford and Heloise Soares. Soares will likely continue to play a fair amount this season, as Collier frequently used a 6-2 formation that had Soares come in for Bella D’Amico for at least one rotation each set. We could see the same this year with Soares and extremely recent addition to the team, Lara Matinez Casas.
Incoming Freshman
Logan Wiley (6’2’’, Middle Blocker, Alpharetta High School, Alpharetta, GA)
Logan hands down is one of the better prospects from the United States that Michelle Collier has pulled in, and they got her from their own backyard. Logan was named the 2023 Georgia Volleyball Coaches Association 6A Player of the Year, was by far the best high school middle blocker in the state, and was listed on the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s 1st-Team All-American list in 2023. To say the hype around her is loud is an understatement.
Now, of course, going from playing local Atlanta high schools to playing three top 10 collegiate teams in the span of a year is quite the jump to make, so while we likely won’t see her play extensively this season, she showed flashes of her potential in the Gold/White game with a block on Bertolino and a kill of her own. Already one of the more developed freshman of the U.S. based freshman, it will be very exciting where she’ll be this time next year after a year of development under Collier, Baigan, and Pinheiro.
Lara Matinez Casas (6’3’’, Right Side, Escuela Argentina del Oeste, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
A very, very late add to the 2024 roster, Lara comes as one of the options to fill in for Smiley Manyang as the backup right side along with Laura Fischer and Leia Harper while simulaneously being an option for after those two graduate. Continuing in the tradition of pulling highly touted South American players, Casas played in the top flight of Argentinian club volleyball for Ferro Carril Oeste and has national team experience with Argentina’s U18 team.
She had not permanently arrived to campus by the time the Gold/White Game rolled around, so we don’t have any firsthand witness to her game. That said, as Collier told us last year, she doesn’t bring anyone in that she doesn’t think can contribute at some point in their Tech career, so we’ll trust the coaching staff here that time and time again has been right about the players they bring in.
Mira McCool (6’3’’, Middle Blocker/Right Side, Homewood High School, Hoover, AL)
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Lydia Zeng (5’6’’, Defensive Specialist/Libero, Walton High School, Marietta, GA)
Aside from having possibly one of the best names of any athlete at Tech, Mira will provide emergency depth if needed up front. Lydia does the same in the libero spot while Sofia Velez theoretically will take care of that position for the next two seasons. Collier noted in our preseson interview that both have a ways to go with their development before being game ready, so we likely won’t get to see them play this year.
Incoming Transfers
“[Sofia and Luanna] have been great additions to our team. They buy into our culture and our goals. We work hard every day and I feel they buy into that mentality. It feels great to play with them, I’m excited for this season. I feel like we have a really good team and good chemistry, so we will try to show that during the games.” – Bianca Bertolino
Luanna Emiliano (Senior, 5’7’’, Setter, UTRGV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
Potentially the most impactful acquisition in the offseason, Emiliano is a super experienced setter who elevated UT-Rio Grande Valley so much that she was breaking nearly every setting record in their program history, including being a key player in their 2022 NIVC Quarterfinal run. Her 3,569 assists put her 10th amongs active players in D1 this season, and would put her 7th all-time for Tech if she had started here. Additionally, her 1,118 digs are the 4th most of active setters.
Aside from her incredible production, she brings necessary stability to the setter position that Tech lost last season when D’Amico fell off enough to where Heloise Soares was called in to start for significant number of games in the middle of the season. Of the options available to them to upgrade at setter, Emiliano easily was one of the better ones out there who may have flown under the radar coming from the WAC.
“I think coming here was a big challenge here for me. I was coming from a great university where I felt really at home. And then I came here; new city, new home. I told [the team] I felt like a freshman in the first game. It’s all new. It’s been a great experience, learning every day. That’s why I came here. I want to learn, I want to play my last season at the highest level I can.” – Luanna Emiliano
Sofia Velez (Junior, 5’4’’, Defensive Specialist/Libero, Trinity Valley CC, Tuala, Colombia)
“Sofia’s got swag. The Flats aren’t ready for her,” a source close to the team told us while researching for this piece. In a fall that’s looking to be one of the more exciting in recent years at Tech, she comes in at just the right time. Velez fills in for the libero of the last three years, Paola Pimentel, who similarly was a JuCo transfer coming into Tech.
The Colombian had the most digs in the NJCAA over the last two seasons with 1,523, helping lead Trinity Valley CC to their first national semifinal in program history. Her established defensive credentials will be a welcome complement to Bertolino and Otene in the back line. Look for her to take most of the points but still get apperances from Lauren Sanden in the same position.
Outgoing Transfers
Kali Engeman (Senior, Minnesota)
Personally, it kills me to see Kali leave the program, especially after she started finally getting in the rotation in the middle of last season recording five crucial kills and two blocks in the five set match at Virginia. But, she returns to her home state and joins one of the better Big 10 programs to finish out her collegiate career.
Deren Cukur (Sophomore, Colgate)
Deren came in from Fenerbache in Turkey as a freshman last year porviding depth at setter behind Heloise Soares but did not appear in any games. She joins the Patriot League champs in Colgate who made the NCAA Tournament last season, falling in the first round to Creighton 3-0.
Opponents
This year, with the additions of Stanford, Cal, and SMU to the conference, the ACC schedule has expanded to 20 games with all 18 teams playing each other at least once. Instead of all home & home matchups being based on comparative program strength, one home & home is now geographically based to accomodate Cal and Stanford. Tech’s home & home opponents are Clemson (geographic rival), Stanford, and Pitt.
Tech will play 12 games against 2023 NCAA Tournament teams, including against both teams they beat in the tournament, South Alabama and Florida. The Florida rematch will take place at McCamish Pavilion on Wednesday, September 11 and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
Non-Conference (in schedule order: 2023 record, AVCA rank or RPI, 2023 conference or NCAA/NIVC Tournament finish)
Vs. UCLA (18-12, RPI: 55th, 5th in PAC-12)
Vs. New Mexico State (21-10, RPI: 82nd, C-USA Championship appearance)
Vs. Coastal Carolina (22-10, RPI: 42nd, 1st Round in NCAA Tournament)
Vs. Lipscomb (21-8, RPI: 75th, ASUN Championship apperance)
@ BYU (25-7, AVCA 18th ranked, 2nd Round in NCAA Tournament)
Vs. Florida (19-10, AVCA 19th ranked, 2nd Round in NCAA Tournament [fell to Georgia Tech])
Vs. South Alabama (22-9, RPI: 32nd, 1st Round in NCAA Tournament [fell to Georgia Tech]
Vs. Alabama State (18-13, RPI: 229th, SWAC Semifinalists)
@ Georgia (19-12, RPI: 47th, 1st Round in NCAA Tournament)
ACC
Vs. SMU (26-7, RPI: 24th, 2nd Round in NCAA Tournament)
Vs./@ Pitt (29-5, AVCA 4th ranked, Final Four in NCAA Tournament)
@ Notre Dame (11-15, RPI: 128th, 12th in ACC)
@ Louisville (27-5, AVCA 6th ranked, Elite Eight in NCAA Tournament)
Vs. Virginia Tech (13-16, RPI: 160th, 14th in ACC)
Vs. Virginia (11-17, RPI: 147th, 13th in ACC)
Vs./@ Clemson (19-14, RPI: 68th, Great 8 in NIVC Tournament)
Vs. NC State (22-7, RPI: 44th, 5th in ACC)
Vs. Wake Forest (17-12, RPI: 66th, 9th in ACC)
@ Duke (19-10, RPI: 57th, 6th in ACC)
@ North Carolina (13-14, RPI: 103rd, 11th in ACC)
@ Cal (16-15, RPI: 78th, 10th in PAC-12)
@/Vs. Stanford (29-4, AVCA 5th ranked, Elite Eight in NCAA Tournament)
Vs. Syracuse (2-26, RPI: 259th, 15th in ACC)
Vs. Boston College (19-13, RPI: 104th, 8th in ACC)
@ Florida State (23-9, AVCA 25th ranked, 1st Round in NCAA Tournament)
@ Miami (18-12, RPI: 45th, 2nd Round in NCAA Tournament)
Prediction
The standard operating level for Tech now when it loses starters is that they reload, not rebuild. They did just that with Velez and Emiliano who when combined with the offseason improvements we’ll see from the exisitng roster, the floor of this team should not be lower than last year’s. The AVCA seems to think that by ranking Tech 14th in the preseason.
The big question we have this year is how Tech faces against a continually improving ACC? On paper, we have Tech going 23-6 with losses to Stanford (2x), Pitt (2x), Louisville, and BYU. Florida and BYU are toss ups for now, so at best this could fluctuate to 24-5 or 22-7. Tech though hasn’t defeated Miami at all in the last couple seasons, albeit last year Miami caught Tech at their worst.
In the NCAA Tournament, there is a real chance they host depending on how the rest of the top tier teams shake out. I think they finally get over that hump with a very experienced starting lineup, getting a 7 or 8 seed and making it to the Sweet Sixteen once again. There, they probably face anyone of Pitt, Stanford, Louisville, or Oregon. To win that match will require likely a top 10 teamwide performance in program history. The have the tools to do it, but for now, I see them falling in that same round once again as they did in 2023.
Side prediction: Bianca Bertolino will be in heavy consideration for national player of the year.
FTRS’ Predicted Starting 7
Outside Hitter: Tamara Otene, Bianca Bertolino, Larissa Mendes (right side)
Setter: Luanna Emiliano
Libero/Defensive Specialist: Sofia Velez
Middle Blocker: Liv Mogridge, DeAndra Pierce
