George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Temple
Volleyball Ousted From A-10 Tournament by Temple, 3-2
11/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 20, 2009
DAYTON, OH -- The fifth-seeded George Washington volleyball team fell to the No. 4 seed Temple, 3-2, in the opening round of the 2009 Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship Friday at the University of Dayton's Frericks Center. The Colonials and Owls battled for more than two hours before finally succumbing by the scores 17-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-16, 15-10.
GW split the two regular-season meetings with Temple this season, each winning on its home court. GW coach Jojit Coronel's teams are now 4-5 in the A-10 Tournament.
GW junior Leah Hill paced the Colonials' attack with a team-high 19 kills in 43 attempts with just three miscues for a .372 hitting percentage. Hill added 14 digs and a pair of blocks. A-10 All-Rookie Team member Lauren Whyte slammed 16 kills in 40 swings for a .274 hitting percentage to go with 16 digs for her fourth straight double-double. All-Conference Second Team member Katie Butz hit .308 on 12 kills with three block assists. Setter Alyssa Valentine assisted on 47 of GW's 63 kills (75 percent) and All-Rookie Team member Candace Silva-Martin recorded 16 digs on the evening.
Temple advances to the semifinal round Saturday. The Owls were led by Yun Yi Zhang's match-high 29 kills (.313 hitting pct.) and three block solos. Setter Jackie Morrison assisted on 49 of Temple's 59 kills and Ariel Pierre led all players with 23 digs.
GW (21-12) dominated the first set after racing out to a 13-6 lead and kept the Owls at arm's length en route to the 25-17 victory. The second set was the most competitive of the match with neither team leading by more than one point the entire set. the teams battled through eight lead changes and 21 ties, the last coming at 23-23 on a kill from Hill. Temple's Jovana Radojevic responded with a kill followed by a kill from Cayleigh Ashman to end the set, 25-23 in favor of the Owls.
The third set was tied only once at 1-1 before the Colonials took a 13-9 lead on a kill by MacKenzie Knox and never trailed on the way to the 25-18 triumph. Temple turned the tables in set four by combining to hit .303 in a relatively easy 25-16 romp. Temple controlled the decisive fifth set from the start with a 4-0 lead built on kills from three different Owls and a GW attack error. The Colonials rallied to tie the set at 5-5 and took a 6-5 lead on a pair of Temple errors. The Owls reasserted control on an ace from Jessica Antosz, a GW attack error and two more kills from Zhang for the 10-6 advantage. Temple reached match point at 14-8 on a kill by Morrison before GW reeled off the next two points on a Whyte kill and a Temple error forcing TU to call a timeout. Ashman then slammed the match-winning kill to end the tournament, and perhaps the season, for the Colonials at 15-10.
Temple will face the No. 1 seed, Dayton (26-3), in the first semifinal match Saturday at 5:00 p.m. (EST) on the Flyers' home court. Third-seeded Xavier (20-11) takes on second-seed Saint Louis (22-6) in the other semifinal match at 7:30 p.m.
For more news about GW Athletics, visit www.GWsports.com.
