Georgetown volleyball (2-2) opened its season last Friday at the Hyatt Regency Invitational in Atlanta, Ga. The Hoyas struggled in the Big East last season, losing 16 out of 18 conference matches and finishing the season with an 8-22 record.

The volleyball team will be under new leadership this year, as Head Coach Toby Rens looks to turn the Hoyas’ misfortunes around. Rens was the head coach at the University of Pittsburg from 2008-12 and led the Panthers to four winning seasons and five appearances in the Big East Tournament. Last season, Rens coached Maryland Eastern Shore to a 27-9 record.

“I am extremely grateful and feel very honored to be selected as the next head volleyball coach at Georgetown University,” Rens said in an interview with GUHoyas. “This is a fantastic opportunity to become part of the Hoya family, fulfill a long-time wish of returning to my favorite city and coaching on the Hilltop. I am truly blessed to be back in the Big East while representing the Hoyas because Georgetown offers one of the very best educations in the country.”

Rens is looking forward to starting the season with the volleyball team, which will return 11 letterwinners from last season, including 2017 First Team All-Big East selection Symone Speech.

“We’re more than ready to compete against other teams as opposed to each other in practice every day. … The team has worked extremely hard to learn new offensive and defensive systems this season. I’ve been really impressed with the direction the team is going and the buy in has been great,” Rens said in an interview with GUHoyas.

The Hoyas opened the Hyatt Regency Invitational with a match against Abilene Christian, losing in four sets. The Hoyas won the opening set 25-23 but dropped the next three sets by scores of 22-25, 10-25 and 18-25.

In their second match of the day, the Hoyas dug themselves into a hole by losing the first two sets 17-25 and 20-25, but responded by winning the next three sets by scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 15-12 to earn a come-from-behind victory against Idaho State. Senior Alyssa Sinnette led Georgetown with 17 kills, while junior Iva Vujosevic tallied 14 digs to lead the Hoyas.

The Hoyas were back in action on Saturday against Winthrop. The match remained close throughout, with 10 ties and six lead changes in the first set. Georgetown dropped a close first set 29-31 before rallying once again and winning the next two sets, both at 25-16. With the fourth set tied at eight, the Hoyas went on an 8-2 run and never looked back, winning the final set 25-21.

After winning two straight matches, Georgetown faced Georgia Tech in its final game of the weekend on Saturday afternoon. Despite all the sets being close, Georgia Tech was able to secure a straight sets win, defeating Georgetown by scores of 27-25, 25-22 and 25-19.

After splitting both games across the two days, Georgetown’s record is 2-2. The Hoyas return to the court this Friday, hosting Norfolk State, the University of Pennsylvania, George Mason and UNC-Wilmington in McDonough Arena in the Georgetown Classic