The Georgetown volleyball team (10-18, 4-11 Big East) finished the away portion of its season this weekend with a pair of losses. The Hoyas travelled to Chicago and Milwaukee to face DePaul (15-12, 3-11 Big East) and Marquette (19-8, 10-4 Big East) and lost in straight sets in both matches.

On Friday, DePaul swept Georgetown in three sets. The Hoyas beat the Blue Demons in their meeting earlier this season in a tight five-set battle.

“We didn’t pass well this match; we weren’t in-system,” Head Coach Arlisa Williams said. “They served tougher, and we didn’t get in-system and get our hitters going. That was tough for us.”

After that loss, Georgetown faced Marquette at the Golden Eagles’ Al McGuire Center. The Eagles triumphed in straight sets, but the match was tightly contested throughout. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Taylor Louis, who has been dominant for the Golden Eagles this season, led her team with 11 kills.

“She’s going to get her kills,” Williams said. “We knew that she was going to get her kills. We were just trying to minimize anyone else going off on us. She’s not going to win a match by herself.”

Despite the negative results, both players and coaches felt there were positives to bring back to the Hilltop. Junior outside hitter Ashlie Williams, who led Georgetown with 10 kills against Marquette, focused on the quality of the performance against Marquette.

“I thought we played really well against Marquette. We definitely showed ourselves that we can play against a team that’s going to finish at the top of the conference,” Ashlie Williams said.

Arlisa Williams also had praise for the junior outside hitter.

“She just hit extremely well for us offensively,” Arlisa Williams said. “She was great, and she scored a lot of points there. Blocking-wise, we recruited Ashlie because of her blocking ability, and she left it out there this weekend. She’s leading, she’s vocal and she’s playing with energy. It’s great to see.”

Next up for the Hoyas are two straight weekends at home. They host Butler this Friday, Nov. 13, and then Xavier on Sunday, Nov. 15. Then, they face Creighton in their televised season finale Nov. 20. All three matches will be played at McDonough Arena.

“Butler is right neck-and-neck with us in the conference, so I think it’ll be a really good game for us to show that we can earn our spot in the conference,” Ashlie Williams said. “That’s something that I’ve been really trying to push, we don’t just want to walk away with all these losses, we want to earn our spot.”

Arlisa Williams is focused on the prospect of the future. She said the team will miss current senior outside hitter Lauren Saar, but is excited about the eight freshmen on the team that have already shown promise for future seasons.

Saar is close to accruing 1,000 career digs at Georgetown, an impressive milestone, and looks set to break the mark this weekend. Fellow veteran Ashlie Williams was full of praise for Saar.

“The fact that she’s that close, and she was out one season and missed half of this season is pretty impactful,” Ashlie Williams said. “She’s amazing on the court, and we really miss her when she’s not there. She’s a huge impact, both vocally and just playing on the court. I’m definitely excited to help her get there.”