This weekend, the Georgetown volleyball team (9-8, 1-3 Big East) played host to both Pittsburgh (12-6, 2-2 Big East) and West Virginia (3-12, 1-3 Big East) at McDonough Arena. The Hoyas fell in four sets to the Panthers on Friday but rebounded nicely to beat the Mountaineers on Sunday and earn their first conference win of the season.

“We had a great week of practice and demonstrated it inconsistently this weekend,” Head CoachArlisa Williams said. “[But] I think that we are passing much better and are able to terminate at a higher level … and on Sunday [we] came out and took it to West Virginia.”

Playing at home for the first time in over three weeks, the Blue and Gray jumped out to an early lead by winning the first set, 23-16. The set saw a lot of sloppy play, as Georgetown committed 10 errors and Pittsburgh 11.

Unfortunately for the Blue and Gray, the Panthers were able to limit their errors going forward while the Hoyas continued making mistakes. Pittsburgh took the next three sets, 25-24, 25-17 and 25-20, to seal the match.

One positive for the Hoyas was the play of their middle blockers. Junior Lindsay Wise led the team with 14 kills to go along with a spectacular .737 hitting percentage, while freshman Dani White had five kills and hit .444.

“Lindsay did a great job making herself available in transition. I think that she had a phenomenal match,” Williams said. “[Dani] played well also in the middle and was able to execute for us,” she added.

The Hoyas took to the court again on Sunday and were able to ride their elevated play to a straight-set win against West Virginia.

The match was tightly contested, however, as Georgetown had to come from behind in each of the three sets. The final set score was 28-26, 25-23 and 25-23.

“One of the things that this team has demonstrated all year is their ability to fight their way out of things,” Williams said. “[The team] played hard and climbed their way out of several holes. I was really proud of them.”

The Hoyas rallied behind four straight points off the serve of freshman libero MacKenzie Simpson to take the first set. In the second set, the Blue and Gray won five straight points after being tied at nine and never looked back. In the final set, Georgetown benefited from several West Virginia mistakes to wrap up the victory.

Georgetown received another strong effort from their middle blockers, as Wise led the way with 10 kills, White notched eight and redshirt sophomore Annalee Abell had eight to go along with a .583 hitting percentage. The trio also helped the Hoyas out-block the Mountaineers 8-4.

Senior setter Ashley Malone continued her trend of effectively creating opportunities for the Georgetown hitters, recording 34 assists to go along with eight digs,  five kills and a .714 hitting percentage.

“We had back-to-back strong performances from our middle blockers,” Williams said. “[And] Ashley just goes back there and does what she needs to do. She’s playing some very disciplined defense.”

The Blue and Gray will set out on a tough road trip this weekend, traveling to Milwaukee, Wis., to face Marquette (13-4, 3-0 Big East) on Friday and to New York for a date with rival Syracuse (11-6, 2-1 Big East) on Sunday.

“We’re going to focus on our side of the net [in practice] this week,” Williams said. “We need to focus not only on what we’re doing on the court, but making sure we are mentally prepared for what lays ahead.”