Friday night Georgia will lose four players who have made a lasting impact on the program.

Elizabeth Reid will play her last game in the Ramsey Center Friday. A.J. REYNOLDS/Staff

Ann Dylla, Kathleen Gates, Carla Tietz and Elizabeth Reid will walk off their home court for the last time at the conclusion of their match against Mississippi State.

Gates, Dylla and Tietz have spent their whole careers at Georgia and have made indelible impressions on almost all aspects of the program. Reid’s route to Athens was a more diverse one taking her from her homeland of England via Jefferson College in Missouri to spend her final two years as a Bulldog.

“You can’t ask for a better group of kids that want to do the right thing day in and day out,” said Georgia head coach Lizzy Stemke. “I think those are the role models that make a program special.”

Gates came to Georgia in 2008 as the No. 19 rated recruit in the country by PrepVolleyball.com and a member of the website’s Fab 50 list. She was a four-year letter winner at John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington, N.C., and was a member of the 2007 Youth National Training Team.

In her freshman season, Gates was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team and also earned SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll. She would go on to be named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll as well as the SEC Community Service Team in both her sophomore and junior seasons. The SEC states that this award is designed to “highlight and athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts” and Gates has certainly done that.

She served as the Director of Autism Awareness at AutismUGA, spoke to 200 Girl Scouts in the spring of 2010 as part of Girl Power Day and in 2009 visited Now Orleans with her church to help victims of Katrina rebuild their homes. These are just a few of the activities Gates carries out off the court both within the University community and outside of it.

“It’s been a really wonderful experience. I’m really blessed to have been a part of an amazing university and amazing program,” Gates said. “Having the opportunity to get involved outside of athletics whether it was to do with AutismUGA or my church – it’s been great to meet a lot of people and make great friendships.”

Gates’ impressive achievements off the court have only been matched by her achievements on it. On Sept. 23, Gates became only the sixth Bulldog player in history to pass 4000 career assists. She is currently fifth on the all time list with 4,554 while also sitting sixth on the all time assists per set list with 10.10.

Gates has been Georgia’s team captain since her sophomore year. Her career statistics alone suggest she will be mentioned amongst the best players to play at the university.

“Just to be even considered that is something that I didn’t think possible when I came here,” Gates said. “But I wanted to make the biggest impact possible both on and off the court.”

Making an impact as impressive as Gates’ has been Dylla. When she arrived on campus in 2008, Dylla wasn’t the first member of her family to enroll at the University.

A year prior to her arrival brother Mark came to Athens as a member of the men’s swimming and diving team. The younger sibling, however, has carved her own piece of Bulldog history across the hallway from the pool her brother lit up in his successful career in the pool.  When asked if there had been any sibling rivalry, Dylla was quick to respond.

“There hasn’t been any,” she said. “We’ve supported each other back and forth, and I’m just so blessed to be given the opportunity to play athletics at the same university as my brother.”

Having experienced considerable high school and personal success in Littleton, Colo., Dylla was also named a PrepVolleyball.com Fab 50 selection as the nation’s 49th-rated recruit. During her time at Heritage High School, she was named to the Class 5A All-State first team in 2007 by the Colorado Coaches Association, having won two conference championships, two regional championships and three district championships. Like her captain, Dylla is a multiple time Academic Honor Roll recipient being named to the freshman list in her first year on campus and following that with appearances in both her sophomore and junior seasons.

Dylla is currently third on the Georgia all time list of block assists with 407 and fifth on the total blocks list with 449. Her average of 0.99 blocks per set is good enough for ninth on the Bulldogs career list. Despite her individual success, those moments won’t be the ones remembered by Dylla.

“I think the time spent with my teammates has been my favorite,” Dylla said. “We’ve had some great wins, we beat Florida my freshman year and we beat Tennessee last year and we just continue to improve each year.”

In their careers at the University of Georgia, both Dylla and Gates have played in every possible set of every possible match. This total currently stands at 451 sets and 119 matches.

Having arrived after two highly successful years at junior college, Reid came to Georgia having already been a Great Britain international since the age of 18. Having joined the Bulldogs she has recorded 149 kills and 86 blocks in her two year career.

Reid will take away fond memories of her short time at Georgia remembering some experiences that will stay with her as she prepares for the 2012 Olympics.

“What it’s like to be a part of a family,” Reid said. “Every memory has been priceless.”

Tietz experienced success early in her Georgia career as she helped Georgia win the inaugural SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championship. She remembers the time as a whirlwind experience.

“That was a very exciting time for me to come in as a freshman, you’re kind of walking around with your head cut off, you have no idea what’s going,” Tietz said. “I was really raw.”

The tournament was set up so that no doubles pairing would win, but rather an accumulation of an entire squads points would result in a victory. Tietz said she found the whole experience a great way to become a part of the Georgia team.

No championships have come Tietz’s way on the hard court but that doesn’t lessen what she has achieved during her time at the University. The 1,447 digs Tietz has recorded currently ranks third all time as does her 3.24 digs per set. In her breakout sophomore season that saw her named assistant team captain she recorded 459 digs at a rate of 4.03 digs per set. These totals are the fourth highest single season totals in Georgia history.

“I’ve given the program everything I’ve had and everything I have to offer,” Tietz said. “I wish it could be longer-I wish the best to these younger girls because they’re going to be rockstars the next couple of years.

Those younger girls will certainly miss their departing teammates.

“I can’t really imagine a team without them,” said redshirt sophomore Kathleen Luft. “It happens every year seniors go and new people come but it will definitely be sad.”

Briana Bahr arrived in Athens the same year as Dylla, Tietz and Gates but having redshirted a year she will see them leave a year before her.

“It’s going to be a little hard for me,” an emotional Bahr said. “I’m the closest with them I would say so it’s going to be heartbreaking when they go.”

The victory against Florida is one that has stuck with the players throughout their careers.

“It was the last time Maria Taylor was going to play against Florida and we went to a fifth set with them,” Gates said. “I got the winning ace against their libero.”

A more recent memory they will leave with was created this past spring when the newly arrived coaching staff took the team to a North Carolina beach house for the week.

“That’s not something they have done in the past, they’ve usually had a week off,” Stemke said. “When we talked to them about the fact we were going to take a spring break they said absolutely-they really got involved in creating a special spring break.”

All four have plans to go to Graduate School however where, and in Tietz’s case when, they are still unsure. Dylla, Gates and Reid all have classes still to finish while Tietz will graduate in December. Whenever they do leave Stemke believes they will leave a legacy on both the university and Georgia volleyball.

“They leave a mark of just absolutely well rounded student-athlets and what we want this program to be about,” Stemke said. “It’s hard work on the court, it’s hard work off the court with their academics and making a difference in the community and just being really well balance and putting their heart and soul into everything they do. That type of person is what we will continue to build this program on.”