George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Howard
Volleyball Humbles Howard, 3-0
10/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 20, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC -- The George Washington volleyball team swept Howard, 3-0, in a non-conference match Tuesday evening at GW's Charles E. Smith Center. The Colonials needed just 63 minutes to defeat the Bison by the scores, 25-13, 25-16, 25-14.
The Colonials, who played without junior Leah Hill who had the night off, and got a brief appearance in one set from senior Abby Syverson, was led by sophomore MacKenzie Knox who hit a near-perfect .800 on 12 kills in 15 attempts with no errors for 12.5 points. Senior Katie Butz added 10.5 points on nine kills and freshman Lauren Whyte contributed 9.5 points on seven kills, four digs and a pair of aces. Sophomore Alex Coward, who at one stretch in the third set served 14 straight points, added her career-high four service aces.
Howard (6-22) was led by Gazelle D'Artois with 9.5 points on a team-high eight kills with five digs, five assists and three blocks. Nicole Brown added a team-high nine digs while Taylor Johnson assisted on four blocks.
The Colonials came out slow to begin the match as their first two attacks were blocked by Howard and fell behind 4-1 before rallying to tie the set at 4-4 on Knox's first kill of the evening. The teams battled to four more ties before GW pulled away from an 8-8 deadlock to score nine of the next 10 points for a 17-10 advantage and coasted to the 25-13 victory.
The second set also was close with five lead changes and six ties, the last coming at 10-10, before the Colonials outscored the Bison, 15-6 the rest of the way for the easy 25-16 triumph.
Set three was knotted at 5-5 before a Whyte ace and a pair of Bison attack errors triggered a 5-2 Colonials' run. Leading 10-7, GW's Coward stepped behind the end line and served an ace and kept serving the next 14 points until a kill by HU's Nia Moore ended the string but not until the Colonials had put the set on ice with an insurmountable 22-9 bulge. GW coach Jojit Coronel emptied his bench at that point and inserted freshmen Christie Graf, Erika Videtto, Coca O'Donnell and Brianna DeBrock for some real-match experience. Both DeBrock and O'Donnell recorded a kill and Graf served the first ace of her collegiate career.
GW combined to hit a robust .276 on 41 kills in 98 swings with 14 errors while holding the Bison to just .046 (23-19-87). GW totaled of 42 digs to 35 for HU but the Bison out-blocked the Colonials at the net, 7 to 5.5.
GW (17-7, 4-3 A-10) next hosts Xavier (13-9, 5-2) Friday in an important A-10 match at Smith Center beginning at 7 p.m. The Musketeers have won last last seven meetings with the Colonials. GW's last victory over Xavier came during the 2003 season in a five-set nailbiter. The GW-Xavier match will be available on www.GWsports.com GameTracker and live video.
