Georgia Tech Volleyball Ranked No. 14 in AVCA/TARAFLEX Preseason Poll

Georiga Tech Volleyball starts the year with a top-15 ranking

Georgia Tech Volleyball / Georgia Tech Athletics

This has a chance to be a very special season for Georgia Tech Volleyball and the preseason AVCA/TARAFLEX Poll that was released today reflects that.

Georgia Tech volleyball has been ranked No. 14 in the preseason edition of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)/TARAFLEX Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll, it was announced Monday. It is the fifth-straight season the Yellow Jackets have received a preseason Top 25 ranking, the longest streak in program history.

The No. 14 ranking is the fifth-highest in program history, for a preseason poll, and the best since being ranked No. 9 at the beginning of the 2022 campaign. It is the fifth time GT has received a Top 15 ranking to begin a season (also ’22, ’20, ’04 and ’03). The Jackets finished 2023 ranked No. 14 after reaching the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the past three seasons.

This poll marks the 71st consecutive week of GT volleyball in the national polls, dating back to the 2020 fall preseason. It is the longest stretch of rankings in program history.

Tech is one of five ACC programs in the Top 25 along with No. 4 Pitt, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Louisville and No. 20 Florida State. The Jackets were selected to finish 4th in the ACC preseason poll, voted on by the league’s coaches earlier this month.

he Jackets return five starters from last year’s Sweet 16 team including the team leaders in kills (Tamara Otene – 406), hitting percentage (Liv Mogridge - .433), aces (Bianca Bertolino – 62) and blocks (DeAndra Pierce – 64). All four Tech representatives from the 2023 ACC postseason awards are back for more in 2024: Bertolino and Otene (1st Team All-ACC) and Heloise Soares and Larissa Mendes (All-Freshman Team).

This will be head coach Michelle Collier’s 11th season on The Flats, tying AVCA Hall of Famer Shelton Collier for the longest tenured coach in program history. At GT, she has 197 wins (2nd most behind Shelton Collier), 111 ACC victories (program record) seven NCAA Tournament match victories (program record) and is the first coach to have led the Jackets to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Collier is the first Tech coach to have five consecutive seasons with a winning percentage over .700 both overall and in conference play (2019-pres.).

The 2024 roster will feature 12 returners and six newcomers: senior transfer setter Luanna Emiliano, junior college transfer DS/L Sofia Velez and four freshmen: RS Lara Martinez Casas, MB/RS Mira McCool, MB Logan Wiley and DS/L Lydia Zeng.

Georgia Tech now boasts seven athletes from outside the United States, (38.9 % of the roster) tied with Wisconsin for the most international roster among Power 4 programs. The Yellow Jackets have representatives from five countries on the roster: 11 Americans, 3 Brazilians (Emiliano, Mendes and Soares), 2 Argentinians (Bertolino and Martinez Casas) 1 New Zealander (Otene) and 1 Colombian (Velez).

Tech begins the regular season on Friday, August 30th against UCLA inside O’Keefe Gymnasium.