This past weekend the Georgetown women’s volleyball team (4-8) participated in the annual Black and Gold Challenge at Wake Forest University. Coming off a seven game slump, the Hoyas looked to right the ship against a somewhat weak field that included host Wake Forest (5-2), Morehead State (4-10) and South Dakota State (0-13).
On Friday the Hoyas played well but lost to Wake Forest 3-1. In Saturday’s action, Georgetown first played Morehead State. The Hoyas swept the match 3-0 to end their losing streak and notch their third victory of the season. Next, Georgetown faced South Dakota State. The Hoyas won 3-1 as they earned runner-up honors in the tournament.
Co-captains senior outside hitter Rachel Nelson and junior middle blocker Annie Connor led the Hoyas during the entire tournament. Nelson racked up 38 kills and 34 digs. Connor tallied 35 kills and 12 digs of her own. The captains’ outstanding performances earned both of them spots on the All-Tournament Team.
The Hoyas carried their two-game winning streak into Tuesday’s home game against cross-town rival American University (6-7). However, they faltered and fell 3-2 in a close match (30-27, 28-30, 30-28, 25-30, 13-15) that could have gone either way.
“We looked like a totally different team today,” said Head Coach Li Liu. “Especially compared to last weekend.”
Connor again paced the Hoyas with 20 kills and six blocks. Nelson contributed a double-double with 14 kills and 15 digs. Senior opposite side hitter Jenny Weed also produced a double-double of 12 kills and 11 digs. First year middle blocker Katherine Niesen added 13 kills. Despite these performances, the Hoyas were not able to overcome costly miscues, as they made 16 service errors.
AU was led by junior Elizabeth Maloney who came through with 20 kills in the win. Senior Cutrina Biddulph and first-year outside hitter Rubena Sukaj both added 17 kills. The Eagles struggled just as much as the Hoyas did with errors, committing 17 service errors of their own.
“We weren’t really enthusiastic early on and were only worried about ourselves,” said AU Head Coach Barry Goldberg. “At the end we realized this is competition here. We looked across the net, looked at ourselves, and said we’re going to compete with them.”
“The team is looking forward to getting into the competition of conference play,” said Coach Liu. “But we need to get better.”
Georgetown will look to reduce their errors and rebound from this loss as they enter their Big East schedule this Friday at 7 p.m. when they travel to rival Syracuse.
