After a tough match against top-ranked Pittsburgh, the Jackets spent their weekends facing opponents home and away.
For Pink Out night on Oct. 12, the crowd gathered in O’Keefe to support the Jackets and those fighting breast cancer. The Jackets immediately took off in the first set by attaining a seven-point lead against Clemson. With a 9-2 lead, the Jackets stretched the margin into double digits with a 14-4 lead and secured the first set by finishing with a 25-13 set score.
The Jackets continued the streak into the second set by grabbing eight of the first nine points and widening the lead to 19-6. After an error from the Tigers, the Jackets took the set with a 25-12 finish and a 2-0 lead.
Although the Jackets entered the third set strong, the Tigers continued to keep it close. The third set was the toughest set for the Jackets, but with a finishing kill from senior Julia Bergmann, the Jackets won the set with a 25-21 score and secured the sweep.
With 18 kills, Bergmann finished the night by placing ninth in career kills in program history. Junior Isabella D’Amico led the offense with 35 assists while sophomore Bianca Bertolino led the defense with 13 digs.
The Jackets traveled to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Oct. 14 to face the Duke Blue Devils at their home venue. At the start of the first set, the Jackets quickly took the lead after winning six out of seven points to double Duke’s score at 16-8. The Jackets kept their lead and took the first set after finishing 25-15.
The second set started off with points going back and forth. However, the Jackets took the lead and started to widen the gap after a four-point run. The Blue Devils fought back and shortened the gap to just one point, but the Jackets continued to widen the gap to gain the set win with a 25-16 finish.
The Jackets had two set wins and just needed one more to end the game, but the Blue Devils fought back in the third set. Although the two teams were tied 3-3, the Blue Devils scored six straight points to take the lead. The Jackets rallied back and put themselves at set point with a 24-22 score. However, Duke came back to tie the score. After multiple set points, the Jackets fell short and handed the third set over to the Blue Devils after a final score of 30-28.
After a long third set, the Jackets went into the fourth set and quickly took the lead. Although the Blue Devils were close to tying up the score, the Jackets won the set 25-22 for a final score of 3-1. Senior Paola Pimentel finished with a career-high of 22 digs while D’Amico ended the night with 43 assists, almost recording a career high.
On Oct. 21, the Jackets came back to O’Keefe to face the Boston College Eagles. The first set started off in favor of the Jackets as they were quick to take six- straight points to gain their first lead of the night. However, the Eagles caught up to the Jackets after tying the set at 10-10 and quickly overturned the lead to 13-11. The Jackets responded back with a five-point run and continued to keep the lead to end the first set at 25-19.
Keeping this streak going, the Jackets entered the second set and immediately took the lead by only allowing the Eagles two points and stretching the score to 15-2. The Jackets got to set point before the Eagles could get to double digits. However, the Eagles went on a five-point streak. The Jackets gained the last point needed for the win and took the second set with a final score of 25-13.
The third set was a continuous back and forth rally in points between the two teams. Although the Eagles took a short lead, 14-11, the Jackets fought back to win nine out of eleven points and finish off with a 25-18 final score and a sweep against the Eagles.
Bergmann finished the night as one of the nine players in program history to have 1500 kills, and senior Erin Moss also ended with a career high of nine blocks. Pimentel finished with 11 kills while D’Amico ended with 25 assists to lead Tech.
As the weekend came to an end, the Jackets faced Syracuse in O’Keefe on Oct. 23. The Jackets got the crowd on their feet by quickly gaining a six-point lead against Syracuse. With a 6-2 lead, the Jackets only allowed four out of 12 points to Syracuse to quickly widen the gap to 15-6. However, Syracuse came back to grab nine out of 10 points and quickly caught up to make the set a onepoint difference. The Jackets did not back down and regained the lead to take home the first set and finish the set with a 25-18 score.
The second set started off in the Orange’s favor as they took the first three points of the set. The two teams traded points back and forth until the Jackets went on an eight-point streak to take a wide lead. But Syracuse was fast to tie the score back at 20-20. The Jackets quickly got to set point after a four-point streak. The Jackets took the second set with a 25-21 finish.
As the third set began, the Jackets took the first lead, but Syracuse continued to keep it close. The Jackets kept their lead to finish off with a 3-0 sweep and a set score of 25-20. Bergmann once again led the team with 15 kills and 31 attacks. After a career-high game of nine blocks against the Eagles, Moss landed eight blocks and 14 kills against Syracuse. D’Amico once again led the team with 41 assists.
The Jackets are now 15-4 and head back on the road to face the North Carolina Tar Heels at 6 p.m. on Oct. 28.