George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
VCU
Volleyball Vanquishes VCU, 3-2
8/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 31, 2007
RICHMOND, VA -- The George Washington volleyball team downed Virginia Commonwealth in five games Friday afternoon in the first day of the VCU/Third Degree Sportswear Invitational at VCU's Alltel Pavilion. The Colonials won by the scores, 26-30, 30-21, 30-28, 23-30, 15-12 in a two-hour, 30-minute marathon battle. GW evened its record on the young season at 2-2 while the host Rams dropped to 0-3.
As much as GW can claim credit for the victory, VCU repeatedly shot themselves in the foot by committing an unconscionable 43 hitting errors, 20 service errors five ball-handling errors and a blocking error to give the Colonials 69 points. Some of the Rams' hitting errors were attributed to GW's formidable blocking. The Colonials combined for 13.5 total blocks compared to six blocks by VCU.
After committing just three service errors in their most recent match at AU Saturday, the Colonials misfired 12 times from the service line Friday but cancelled out those points with 12 service aces.
Game one was very tight featuring 18 ties and six lead changes. With the score knotted at 26-26, VCU got a pair of kills from Ariel Newman and one from Jessica Ojukwu to get to game point. The game ended on an attack error by GW senior Janine Brown.
GW took control of game two early racing out to a 7-1 lead after benefitting from four VCU attack errors. The Rams and Colonials battled through seven ties, the last coming at 15-15, before GW pulled away with some crisp serving that resulted in four aces including a pair by senior setter Jess Buche.
Game three was close throughout but GW maintained a slim lead most of the way en route to the 30-28 win. After GW forged a 5-0 lead to begin game four, VCU whittled away at the deficit and tied the game five times, the last coming at 14-14. The Rams extended their lead to 22-15 on a pair of aces by Karolin Heinz and coasted to the 30-23 victory.
Game five was a roller coaster with neither team leading by more than two points until a pair of Colonials attack errors gave VCU a 10-6 bulge. Trailing 11-8, the Colonials scored six straight points for a commanding 14-11 advantage. A ball-handling error by Buche made the score 14-12 before the match ended, appropriately, on an attack error by VCU.
Janine Brown slammed a match-high 16 kills and had 14 digs for her fourth straight double-double to start the season. Brown tallied a match-high 20 points while junior Liz Moult added 14 points on 11 kills and a pair of block solos.
VCU was led by Newman and Elisa Kuehnel with 14 kills each while Laryssa Goncalves led all players with 22 digs. GW combined to hit just .115 (42 kills -24 errors -156 attempts) for match compared to the Rams' .107 (64-43-197).
GW (2-2) next plays Liberty (2-2) on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. before facing South Carolina (2-1) at 4:30 p.m.
