Giommarini reaches 1,000 kill milestone during straight-set victory over Duquesne
Senior opposite hitter Vicky Giommarini recorded her 1,000th kill Sunday afternoon. Photo by Jon Mirador
Ben Malakoff, Contributing Writer
Senior outside hitter Vicky Giommarini hit a milestone 1,000 career kills during a straight-set victory over Duquesne on Sunday afternoon.
She moved into seventh all-time for career kills at VCU with a total of 1008.
“That’s really awesome,” Giommarini said. “I never felt like I was going to hit that many. It just feels awesome. Without my team I would never [be able to] do that.”
The past three seasons have paved the way for Giommarini to hit this marker. She began this year with 841 career kills. In her sophomore season, she broke out for a career-high of 308 kills, averaging over two and a half per set.
“Vicky’s been the face of VCU for the last four years,” coach Jody Rogers said. “She doesn’t just kill the ball. She passes, she serves tough, she hits from the back row. There’s a lot of thing that’s tough to recruit, and she’s been great for us.”
Giommarini might enjoy the moment now, but this personal record took her by surprise.
“I just realized a couple days [ago]. When I read it I was like, ‘Wow I’m close to 1000,’” Giommarini said. “I never expected it actually.”
The next personal achievement for Giommarini is to continue to move up in the record book. She currently sits 37 kills behind Cindy O’Brien, who ranks fifth all-time with 1045.
“Now it’s kind of like a challenge, one step at a time, just trying to surpass one at a time,” Giommarini said.
However, setting more career bests is not on the top of the to-do list for Giommarini. For her, the goal is much larger: to find a way back to the NCAA tournament, she said, something the Rams missed out on last season.
