It was a bittersweet victory for the Georgetown volleyball team (8-17) this Sunday at McDonough Gym. The Lady Hoyas captured their second Big East win, defeating DePaul 3-0 in their final home game of the season and the last of the seniors’ careers.
“It feels really good to go out with a win,” senior middle blocker Annie Connor said of her final home game at Georgetown. “This was just a fun match. We knew that we weren’t going to play together as a group again at home. We came out aggressive and ready to go.”
The Hoyas dominated the play in the first game, out-killing the Blue Demons (5-23, 0-12 BE) and accumulating less than half as many errors as DePaul. Georgetown easily took the match with a score of 30-23.
The second match proved to be slightly more difficult, as DePaul started to hand the Hoyas their game. The Blue Demons came out leading the game at 11-6, but Georgetown recharged its momentum and quickly tied the game 19-19. From there, the Hoyas pulled ahead and won the match 30-25.
For the third and final game, the Hoyas again kept their errors low at five while the Blue Demons racked up 10. By continually displaying their strong defense and serving the ball well, the Hoyas led the game for the entire duration once again. The seniors finished their last home match in three games, taking the last game 30-20. A block by Connor achieved the last point for the Hoyas’ 2006 home season.
Georgetown played well in all three matches, getting more kills than the Blue Demons in every game. A strong defense was also a big factor in the team’s win.
“We came out, and we just played high energy from the very beginning, and we did some things real well,” Georgetown Head Coach Arlisa Hagan said of the team’s defensive efforts. “First game we had six blocks. We haven’t seen that from the Hoyas all season. And so to come out blocking the way that we did … was a significant key to our success.”
The Hoyas will be losing three seniors when this season ends: team-leading blocker Connor, right side hitter Jessica George and outside hitter Rachel Barton.
“Our seniors, this year, they have been great leaders,” Hagan said of her first senior class. “We’ve had a team that has gone up and down and has been on a roller coaster all year, physically, mentally, emotionally. And our seniors have really been able to hold this group together. When you’ve got leadership like that from your senior class, it only goes well as you try to train your younger kids.”
“It’s awesome,” freshman outside hitter Jessica Hardy said on earning a win in the last home game with the seniors. “We have had kind of a rough season, but it’s so great for them to be able to go in and play well because they cherish this program so much.”
The volleyball team will travel to face Cincinnati (19-6, 8-4 BE) this Friday and then to Louisville (18-6, 11-1 BE) on Sunday with hopes of obtaining two more Big East wins to up their conference record of 2-10 to 4-10. With only these two games remaining in the season, the Hoyas look to do everything they can to send the seniors off in a series of wins. As the end of the season approaches, the Hoyas are also realizing the progress they have made. They are staying focused on their goals for the season and starting to examine how well they did in achieving what they had set out to do.
“One of the biggest things that we tried to do from the beginning of the season was be a team that went out and served competitively every single match,” Hagan said. “It’s something that we work on at practice every day, and I think from the beginning of the year to now you definitely see progress in that area. The other thing is working together as a team, giving 100 percent effort on every single play. We saw that from beginning to end.”
