The Georgetown Women’s Volleyball team (2-4, BIG EAST) went 1-2 in the Stetson/USF Invitational over the Labor Day Weekend. The Blue and Gray fell to Florida Atlantic (4-3, CONFERENCE USA) and Western Carolina (4-4, Southern) in a doubleheader on Friday before bouncing back with a victory against host Stetson (0-7, Atlantic Sun).
Against Florida Atlantic, the Hoyas lost a tooth-and-nail affair with the Owls, going down in four sets (28-26, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22). Sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Sinnette led the way for Georgetown with a career-high 28 kills as the sole Hoya in double figures, while sophomore middle blocker Symone Speech added eight kills and three blocks. Sophomore libero Kenzie Higareda anchored the defense with 20 blocks, as the Hoyas managed a 0.181 hitting percentage. The Owls and Hoyas matched each other on total number of kills across the four sets, but Georgetown committed four more errors. The Hoyas led in all four sets but only captured the second one, on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Liv King.
An unbalanced scoring effort and low hitting percentage plagued the Hoyas once more against Western Carolina, as the Catamounts capitalized on Georgetown’s sloppiness to take the match in straight sets (27-25, 25-18, 25-15). Higareda led the defense with a match-high 22 digs while fellow sophomore, setter Paige McKnight, McKnight posted a double-double with 25 assists and 10 digs.
On Saturday however, the Hoyas tightened up their control of the ball and played with rhythm, as they swept Stetson in straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-23). The sophomores once again proved to be a catalyst of success, as Higareda recorded a game-high 21 digs and McKnight added 38 assists to key the Hoyas to victory. The Blue and Gray jumped out to early leads in each of the first two sets for wire-to-wire wins, but played from behind in the third set following a 7-5 start by the Hatters. The Hoyas would claim their largest lead of the match at 18-15, but fell behind 21-20 after a Georgetown error. Strong playmaking down the stretch from the Hoyas, including a pair of service aces, sealed the match at 25-23. Higareda and McKnight were both named to the all-tournament team for their breakout play.
The Hoyas return to the court Friday versus Towson (6-1, CAA) as a part of the Georgetown Classic, then play Princeton (2-1, Ivy League) and then Maryland (5-1, Big Ten) in a double-header on Saturday to wrap up the tournament.
