George Washington University Athletics
Friday, November 22
Kingston, RI
3:30 p.m.
George Washington University
vs
No. 5 La Salle
Volleyball Vies for A-10 Title This Weekend
11/21/2019 12:53:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Colonials open up A-10 tournament with No. 5 La Salle Friday
WASHINGTON - GW volleyball is back in the postseason for the second time in three years, opening up the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. against No. 5 seed La Salle in quarterfinal action. The Colonials (15-13, 8-6) earned the No. 4 seed, their highest since 2015, and held the tiebreaker over the Explorers (14-12, 8-6) by virtue of a pair of wins in the regular season.
SKY'S THE LIMIT:Â Senior Skylar Iott has secured her space as one of the great attackers in program history, crossing over 1,000 career kills on Oct. 19 vs. Duquesne. Entering this weekend, Iott ranks fourth in program history in total attempts (3,533) and is seventh in career kills (1,121). She needs 11 kills to surpass Ruth Lazzari (2000-03) for sixth place and 32 kills to usurp Sarah Hokom (2000-03) to finish in the program's all-time top five.
Iott has carried one of the heaviest workloads in the A-10, leading the conference, and ranking fourth nationally, with 13.03 attacks per set. The Ida, Mich., native is second in the league in kills/set (3.99), points/set (4.51), total points (433) and total kills (383).
ALL-AROUND ACCLAIM: Senior setter Jaimeson Lee has put together a complete season, headlined by finishing fourth in the league with 8.99 assists/set. Lee is approaching 900 assists in her final season and ranks seventh in program annals with 2,717 career assists. She needs 32 helpers to pass Jordan Timmer (2013-15) for sixth place all-time in program history.
In addition to assists, she leads the team in attack percentage (.291) while recording 59 kills. She is also second in digs (269), third in blocks (78) and tied for third in service aces (26).
SKY'S THE LIMIT:Â Senior Skylar Iott has secured her space as one of the great attackers in program history, crossing over 1,000 career kills on Oct. 19 vs. Duquesne. Entering this weekend, Iott ranks fourth in program history in total attempts (3,533) and is seventh in career kills (1,121). She needs 11 kills to surpass Ruth Lazzari (2000-03) for sixth place and 32 kills to usurp Sarah Hokom (2000-03) to finish in the program's all-time top five.
Iott has carried one of the heaviest workloads in the A-10, leading the conference, and ranking fourth nationally, with 13.03 attacks per set. The Ida, Mich., native is second in the league in kills/set (3.99), points/set (4.51), total points (433) and total kills (383).
ALL-AROUND ACCLAIM: Senior setter Jaimeson Lee has put together a complete season, headlined by finishing fourth in the league with 8.99 assists/set. Lee is approaching 900 assists in her final season and ranks seventh in program annals with 2,717 career assists. She needs 32 helpers to pass Jordan Timmer (2013-15) for sixth place all-time in program history.
In addition to assists, she leads the team in attack percentage (.291) while recording 59 kills. She is also second in digs (269), third in blocks (78) and tied for third in service aces (26).
EXPERIENCE AT THE NET:Â The graduate student combo of Caroline Sklaver and Paty Valle has revolutionized the Colonials' block, combining for 186 rejections this year. Sklaver (9th, 1.02) and Valle (12th, 0.98) are both among the league's best and team up for exactly two blocks per set.
As a result of their prowess, the Colonials have gone from seventh in the A-10 last year in blocks per set (1.85) to second this year with 2.54 per stanza, coming in 31st nationally. GW is 12-3 this season when the team tallies at least 8.0 blocks, compared to 3-10 when failing to do so.
SERVING WITH A PURPOSE:Â The Colonials have also gone through a transformation with their serve game, leading the league and ranking 39th nationally with 1.63 aces per set. Valle has been the key cog with her jump serve, which she learned prior to this season, recording 37 aces, third-most in the A-10. Valle's 0.42 aces per set is the second-highest rate in the A-10 and ranks 48th in the NCAA.
Aces have been another tell-all of the team's success with the Colonials going 11-5 when registering six or more aces, and 4-8 with five or fewer.
ACROSS THE NET:Â GW and La Salle are squaring off for the third time this season with the Colonials claiming both regular season matchups. The Buff & Blue swept the Explorers in Philadelphia on Oct. 6 (25-19, 25-18, 26-24) before sweating out a five-set win 12 days later in D.C. (25-23, 26-24, 15-25, 27-29, 15-10). Senior Jordan Young had two of her best performances of the season against La Salle, totaling 24 kills in eight sets while swinging .299. Iott led the team with 25 kills, hitting .070.
The Colonials are 43-3 all-time against La Salle, winning four of five in head coach Sarah Bernson's three years at GW. The winner of Friday's matchup meets No. 1 seed VCU in the semifinals on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OPP
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
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