Hoyas Fall To Patriots

By Mike Galas Special to The Hoya

Coming off a significant victory over cross-town rival George Washington, the Georgetown women’s volleyball team was ready to hand the George Mason Patriots their seventh loss of the season. However, the Hoyas came up short, falling to the Patriots, 3-2.

While the Patriots (11-6) are ranked fourth in the nation in ace average, the Hoyas (12-8) tried to overpower them with strong middle blocking and a low error ratio. But the Hoyas committed “too many errors” and were “too inconsistent” during the matchup, according to Head Coach Li Liu.

After struggling in the first game, the Hoyas were defeated, 15-9. Prospects for the second game started off dim when the Patriots moved ahead, 6-0, but the Hoyas regrouped. With the help of key assists by freshman Jennifer Ward and accurate hitting by junior outside hitter Yulia Vtyurina and sophomore middle blocker Anna Kleinsorge, the Hoyas pulled away with a win in the second game, 15-11.

“Our team is very inconsistent – one day we’re stars, the next day we’re making an unacceptable amount of errors,” Liu said.

She attributed part of this loss of focus and consistency to a loss of senior leadership. “We’re missing a lot without [senior outside hitter] Kiran [Gill]. We’ve been without her for three weeks, and her absence has hurt us in many ways.”

The Hoyas split the next two games. They lost the third in a close back-and-forth confrontation and came back from a 6-1 deficit early in the fourth to pull out a victory, forcing the match into a fifth and tie breaking game. The team suffered a heartbreaking 16-14 loss, with the Patriots barely escaping after a 14-14 deadlock.

“Our two freshman starters have a lot of pressure on them because they’re playing young, and there isn’t much room for them to have a bad day, yet they’re doing a great job,” Liu said.

Both performed well in the match overall, with Ward posting an impressive 61 assists and 12 digs, while Hart committed only four errors. Liu had especially strong praise for Ward.

“She has to be on every game and play regardless, if she is sick or tired, because the team needs her. That’s a lot of stress to put on a freshman’s shoulders, but she is handling it quite well,” Liu said.

This next week and a half will prove to be decisive for Hoyas’ standing in the Big East conference. Georgetown will face conference foes Providence, Boston College, Pittsburgh and West Virginia in that period.

Currently, the Hoyas stand at 2-2 in conference play. With only seven conference games remaining, the next four will most likely determine the Hoya’s chances for competition at the Big East Tournament.

“We have to stay focused and win the next four games,” Liu said. “Many of the players are stressed out about midterms and school, but we still need to come out strong, keep working on our game and reduce the number of errors we make.”

Liu and the team believe they can make it into the top four in the conference and advance to the tournament, with the hopes of winning the Big East Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Georgetown will travel to Providence at 2 p.m. on Saturday and move on to Boston College on Sunday at 1 p.m.