George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
0-3,0-0Atlantic 10
Georgia Southern
3-0,0-0Sun Belt
Volleyball Drops Opening Pair of Matches at Eagle Invitational
9/1/2023 7:56:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
STATESBORO, Ga. – GW volleyball began its weekend 0-2 at the Eagle Invitational hosted by Georgia Southern, dropping its opening pair of matches 3-0 to the host Eagles and Stetson. The Buff & Blue will have a chance to pick up a victory when they meet College of Charleston on Saturday at 10 a.m.
GAME 1 – Georgia Southern 3, GW 0 (17-25, 12-25, 16-25)
BY THE NUMBERS
Salem Yohannes and Liv Womble paced the GW offense with seven and six kills, respectively. Womble's six kills came on 13 attempts to hit for .231 on the match. Penelope Hiepler was GW's designated libero for the match, scooping up 10 digs and recording one assist. Dilara Elmacioglu tallied 16 assists and seven digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Eagles quickly moved to a 6-1 lead in the opening set and never surrendered their lead to take a 1-0 set advantage in the opening game of the invitational.
Georgia Southern limited GW to just seven kills in Set Two, tallying 14 as a team with a .407 hitting percentage. GW tied the set at six after another quick start by the home team. A pair of scoring runs from the Eagles pushed the lead to 14-8 and GW was held to four points for the remainder of the set, with Georgia Southern finishing with a six-point scoring run.
Eight ties came in Set Three with four lead changes. The Eagles took the lead for good at 14-10, earning a 3-0 victory.
GAME 2 – Stetson 3, GW 0 (21-25, 23-25, 21-25)
BY THE NUMBERS
Womble tallied 10 kills to lead GW's offense and Haylee Brown added nine kills. Womble finished the match with a .276 hitting percentage with two errors on 29 attempts. Kelsey Watkins added seven kills to a GW offense that put down 37 kills, the most in a three-set match for the Buff & Blue this season.
Watkins added six blocks on the day and Womble and Brown added two apiece. Elmacioglu recorded 18 assists and Maeve Loughran added 13.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Back-to-back solo blocks from Watkins started Game Two of the day. After eight ties and at the midpoint of the opening frame, Stetson led 15-11. The Hatters then stretched their lead to 20-14, with GW managing to cut the lead to two before Stetson took the opening frame, 25-21.
11 ties came in Set Two with GW holding the narrow 16-15 advantage in kills on the set. GW held a steady two-point advantage at 16-14, 18-16, 21-19 but a quick three-point scoring run by the Hatters forced a tie at 23 and back-to-back points from Stetson helped to a 2-0 set advantage.
Despite six ties and a pair of lead changes in the third set, Stetson's 17 kills to GW's 11 proved to make the difference in the final frame.
