George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
La Salle
Volleyball Stumbles Against La Salle, 3-2
9/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2007
Final Stats | Parents of the Colonials Photo 
WASHINGTON, DC -- The GW volleyball team suffered an agonizing 3-2 loss to visiting La Salle Sunday afternoon in an Atlantic 10 Conference match at Charles E. Smith Athletic Center. La Salle won by the scores 30-24, 19-30, 30-26, 27-30, 15-9 in a match that consumed two hours, 24 minutes. It marked only the second loss to the Explorers in 27 meetings. GW's last loss to La Salle came on Oct. 29, 2005 in Philadelphia.
GW senior Janine Brown led five different Colonials in double-figure kills with a match-high 19 to go with her team-high 21 digs for 19 points. Junior Liz Moult scored 16 points on 14 kills and three blocks while hitting .282. Senior Erica Williams had her best match as a Colonial after coming off the bench to score her career-high 14.5 points on 12 kills in 22 swings for a .364 hitting percentage. She also added a pair of solo blocks and assisted on another block. Abby Syverson (10 kills, .308 pct.) and Jackie Yaniga (10 kills, four block assists) were the other Colonials in double figures.
It was apparent things weren't going to go the Colonials way early as they began the match with a service error but traded points with La Salle up until a 12-12 tie. La Salle's Rachel Stemper then pounded a kill and teammate Erin Sullivan followed with a service ace prompting GW coach Jojit Coronel to call a timeout. GW's Brown slammed a kill after the break before LU's Christa Dominick took a set from Carly Conlon and spiked a kill for a 17-14 LU advantage. A GW attack error followed by a La Salle service ace by Amy McKeon and Coronel spent another timeout. The Colonials came out of the timeout and proceeded to hit into a block prompting Coronel to pull starting setter Jess Buche and insert sophomore Madelyn Bagby. It marked Bagby's first action this season after recovering from an injury.
The Colonials appeared to find their rythmn on offense and traded kills with La Salle but could get no closer than 23-17 as the Explorers coasted to the 30-24 victory. Game two was completely different from the first game as GW took charge early and built a 22-13 lead and was never threatened. GW started game three in the same manner gaining a 10-6 lead before La Salle coach Dave Stever was charged with a yellow card and a red card for vehemently protesting a non-call by the referee. The Colonials' 12-6 lead dwindled as La Salle outscored GW, 16-6 to take command of the game at 23-18 and maintained its advantage down the stretch.
GW started game four strong and raced out to a 11-2 lead after getting kills from four different Colonials. La Salle again whittled away at the lead and got to within one at 26-25 on a kill by Stemper. But kills by Yaniga, Williams and Moult preserved the lead and GW escaped with a 30-27 win to force game five. La Salle took command in the decisive fifth game with a 7-2 lead after a pair of kills each by Stemper and Sullivan. The Colonials crept to within two at 9-7 before LU pulled away and won the match on Stemper's 16th kill of the match.
For the match, La Salle out-hit GW, .214 (64-23-192) to .201 (73-31-209) and the Colonials served 13 errors to just two aces while the Explorers were only slightly more successful with nine aces but 12 errors.
La Salle's Stemper paced the Explorers with 16 kills while Kayla Beck added 24 digs as LU improved to 9-11, 1-1 in the A-10.
GW (9-9, 2-2 A-10) next travels to Baltimore Thursday to face Morgan State in a 7 p.m. non-conference match before hosting Long Island Friday at 7 p.m. at Smith Center.
