George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
George Mason
Volleyball Overcomes George Mason, 3-0
8/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 28, 2010
FAIRFAX, VA -- The George Washington Volleyball team overcame slow starts to complete a 3-0 sweep of George Mason Saturday night in the final match of the DC Challenge at George Mason University's Recreation Athletic Complex in Fairfax, VA. GW fell behind early in each of the three sets before righting the ship and won by the scores, 28-26, 25-20, 25-16 in under an hour and a half.
GW overcame deficits of three points to begin the first set, an 8-2 deficit to begin the second set and a 6-2 disadvantage to start the the third set.
GW head coach Jojit Coronel addressed the slow starts following the match. "I think some of our players were tired tonight so we put in some subs with Taylor [Knox] and Rachael [Goss] and they were fresh," Coronel said. "Leah [Hill] and Lauren [Whyte] have been taking a lot of swings so I think they were a little tired. I thought our passing and defense got better as the match went on. We're not a huge blocking team but we do a good job funneling balls and scoring points in transition."
For the third straight match, sophomore Lauren Whyte led the Colonials with a match-high 16 kills and added 11 digs for 16 points. Senior co-captain Katie Zulandt hit an errorless .615 on eight kills in 13 attempts and assisted on three blocks.
Sophomore Katie Crosby continuned to shine as she assisted on 36 of GW's 45 kills. Through the first three matches of the season, Crosby is averaging 11.1 assists per set and has yet to commit a ball-handling error. Crosby and Whyte were named to the All-Tournament Team as selected by the head coaches.
Sophomore libero Candace Silva-Martin recorded a team-high 16 digs. Colonials' freshman Rachael Goss had her best match of her young career with seven kills in 20 swings for a .250 hitting percentage.
GMU (1-2, 3-6 sets) was led by Holly Goode's 10 kills and Fernanda Bartels' 12 digs.
With Saturday's victory, GW holds a 29-8 advantage in the all-time series with George Mason and an 11-4 record in DC Challenge matches.
American (2-1, 6-3 sets) won the tournament by virtue of its 6-3 sets record edging GW (2-1, 6-4 sets). GMU (1-2, 3-6 sets) was third in the DC Challenge while Georgetown (1-2, 4-6 sets) placed fourth.
GW (2-1) next plays Sept. 3 against Liberty in the UVa Holiday Inn Jefferson Cup tournament at Charlottesville, VA. Free live statistical updates are available by going to www.GWsports.com and clicking on the GameTracker link.
