Big East Foes Down Hoyas

The Georgetown volleyball team suffered two losses this past weekend in important conference games. After being shut out by Connecticut, 3-0 (15-6, 17-15, 15-12), the Hoyas dropped another match to St. John’s, 3-2 (6-15, 18-16, 14-16, 15-11, 8-15). The Hoyas fall to 5-5 in conference play put them too low in the standings to obtain one of the four spots in this year’s Big East Tournament. Standing now at 15-12 overall, the Hoyas occupy sixth place in the Big East.

The Hoyas had dropped to fifth place after Saturday’s match, but the hope of competing in the tournament was still alive if they could pull off a win against the St. John’s Red Storm on Sunday. Head Coach Li Liu said the team had met for a long time after the last loss and felt they had regrouped sufficiently to reverse the tide and win. Unfortunately, too many errors and a strong performance by the Storm’s star player, Olga Roudovski, led to their heartbreaking defeat in five games.

“We just weren’t clicking together on the court,” Liu said. “We are a really good team, with really good players, but we just couldn’t pull it together.”

Despite the loss, sophomore middle blocker Anna Kleinsorge and senior outside hitter Kiran Gill turned in excellent performances. Both recorded a team-high 16 kills, with Kleinsorge hitting a match-high .500 and only committing one error throughout the course of the match. Junior outside hitter Yulia Vturina was tough on defense for the Hoyas, notching 18 digs for the Hoyas, yet also strong on the attack with 14 kills.

Liu commented that Kleinsorge’s prospects look very good for next year after her recent outstanding performances.

In Georgetown’s first match of the weekend against the Huskies, the Hoyas “just didn’t seem to pull together as a team,” Liu said. “They were all out there and fighting really hard, but they were playing as individuals more than as part of a whole.”

Kleinsorge stepped up for the Hoyas, taking the lead in hitting percentage, with a .400 average. She was also strong on the attack, with 13 kills. Other strong efforts were turned in by the team’s sole setter, freshman Jennifer Ward, who notched a match-high 34 assists and overpowered the Huskies with four service aces. Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Warner and Vtyurina also gave solid performances, Warner with 10 kills and seven digs and Vtyurina with five kills and eight digs. However, these individual performances still led to a devastating three game shutout.

The Big East Tournament will occur in two weeks. So far, Notre Dame has clinched a spot, and three of the following teams will also compete: Rutgers, Pittsburgh, St. John’s and Connecticut.

Looking forward to next year, Liu said in the offseason she will work on building team unity, reducing the number of errors and reflecting on the past season.

“It is disappointing that we won’t play in the postseason, but at least we can learn from our mistakes and come back next year in a better mindset,” she said.

The Hoyas will lose seniors Gill, Kaili Stevens and Meg Troller to graduation. Liu says they plan to bring four new freshman members onto the squad next year.

Georgetown will play at Temple on Wednesday at 7 p.m.