George Washington University Athletics
GW Volleyball to Open A-10 Championship on Friday
11/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
WHO: GW Volleyball (20-10, 9-5 A-10)
WHAT: Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals vs. VCU (14-16, 8-6 A-10)
WHEN: Friday, 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Charles E. Smith Center
FOLLOW: Tickets | Watch Live | | Atlantic 10 Championship Central | GW Notes
LEADING OFF: GW returns to the Atlantic 10 Championship for the third straight season and the fourth time in five years under head coach Amanda Ault.
The Colonials are 20-10 overall and 9-5 in the Atlantic 10 entering Friday's Quarterfinal match against No. 5 VCU. The winner will advance to face No. 1 seed Dayton in Saturday's semifinals.
GW's last appearance in the Atlantic 10 Championship was in 2014. The Colonials, who had a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed, swept Saint Louis in the semifinals before falling in four sets to Dayton in the Championship match.
GW is 19-24 all-time in the A-10 Championship, with conference titles in 2000, 1995, 1994 and 1993.
LAST TIME OUT: GW concluded the regular season with home sweeps over Duquesne (Nov. 13) and La Salle (Nov. 14) to achieve 20 wins for the second straight season and third time in five years under Coach Ault
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: GW finished with a record of 9-4 record at home at the Charles E. Smith Center. In five seasons under Coach Ault, the Colonials boast a record of 47-16 (.746) on their home floor.
SIX FOR CHICHI: Sophomore Chidima Osuchukwu set an Atlantic 10 record by earning her sixth Player of the Week Award on November 17, the first player in conference history to earn six awards in one season. For her career she now has 10 Player of the Week awards, just one behind the program-record 11 by GW Athletic Hall of Famer Svetlana Vtyurina.
VS. THE FIELD: GW is 3-5 against the A-10 Championship field this season. The Colonials swept both matches against Duquesne (Oct. 18 & Nov. 13) and beat VCU in five sets (Oct. 2). GW lost a pair of matches against both Saint Louis (Oct. 9, Nov. 8) and Dayton (Oct. 10, Nov. 6) and lost the only meeting against Rhode Island (Oct. 23).
BLOCK PARTY: For the second straight season, GW concluded the regular season as the top-blocking team in the Atlantic 10. GW leads the Atlantic 10 and ranks 23rd in the NCAA with 275.0 total blocks. The Colonials also rank second in the conference and 55th in NCAA Division I with 2.41 rejections per set.
Also for the second straight season, Osuchukwu leads the A-10 in the trio of 1.50 blocks per set (14th in NCAA), 154 total blocks (4th in NCAA) and 37 solo rejections.
CONFERENCE LEADERS: In addition to Osuchukwu, seniors Jordan Timmer and Maddy Doyle also enter the weekend leading the conference in respective statistical categories.
Timmer is the top setter in the conference in both total assists (1,223, 16th in NCAA) and assists per set (10.73, 45th in NCAA) while Doyle paces the A-10 in both total digs (482, 73rd in NCAA) and digs per set (4.23).
