After two victories in two days versus Wofford and Ole Miss, #22 Georgia Tech Volleyball secured victory against the Arkansas State Red Wolves to close out the Georgia Tech Classic 3-0.
Tech set the tone from the whistle, with two points for the team to start the match: a kill by sophomore Bianca Garibaldi followed by a service ace by freshman Lameen Mambu.
Despite the strong start, however, Arkansas State quickly recovered to overcome the deficit created by the Jackets. It was close the entire set,
but the Red Wolves were able to pull ahead of the 25-25 tie for the win with kills from graduate student Payton Van Veen and junior Devyn Lewis, both assisted by junior Erin Madigan.
Though they did not clinch the first set, the Jackets managed to get the first points in set two before the Red Wolves got in a scoring run. The Jackets made a steady gain on Arkansas State the rest of the set before catching up at 17-17 and ultimately pulling ahead for the set, with Garibaldi delivering the final kill and the Jackets winning 25-22.
Much like game two, game three begins with a point for Tech with a kill by Mambu. However, the Red Wolves immediately retaliated with a 6-0 scoring run, including two consecutive aces by Arkansas State’s Madigan. Those were met with several aces by the Jackets later in the match by freshman Anika Groom, senior Sofia Velez, and junior Heloise Soares. Mambu finished what she started, with a kill to secure the set for the Jackets at 25-21.
Game four began with a 4-0 scoring run for the Jackets, a combination of kills and errors before the Red Wolves were able to get on the board. The Jackets were able to keep a lead from their opponents throughout the remainder of the match, with the only dip at 21-21 and the Red Wolves able to get one above the Jackets before a 4-0 scoring run for Tech completed the match, with the Jackets winning the set 25-22 and the match 3-1.
Mambu had a stand-out performance as the kill, attack and point leader for the match, at 16, 46 and 20 respectively, and barely trailing Velez for digs, who got 19 to Mambu’s 16. As a team, the Jackets beat the Red Wolves with nine aces to their three and just edged out Arkansas State with 58 kills to their 54.
The Jackets make their first away trip for the Stacey Clark Classic to meet Purdue University on Wednesday, University of Kansas on Thursday and Bowling Green State University on Friday on the Boilermaker’s home court.
