The Georgetown women’s volleyball team hit the ground running by splitting the D.C. Challenge Title tournament championship with UC Santa Clara. The Hoyas went 2-1 on the weekend with a 2-3 loss to UCSC, a 3-2 win over American University and a victory against Howard University.
In the first matchup of the weekend, Georgetown fell short in five sets against UC Santa Clara. Junior middle blocker Symone Speech and graduate student middle blocker Aima Eichie spearheaded the Hoyas’ offense, hitting .568 with 24 kills and .500 with 10 kills, respectively.
On defense, junior libero Kenzie Higareda and junior setter Paige McKnight notched 12 digs each, while freshman outside hitter Riley Wertzberger added 11 of her own.
Set one went back and forth the whole way, but UCSC narrowly escaped with a 25-23 victory. In the second set, McKnight ignited the Hoyas’ play by dropping a few aces for a commanding 25-14 victory, tying the match at 1-1. The two squads continued to be competitive in the third set, but junior outside hitter Alyssa Sinnette pushed the Hoyas ahead with several kills. With the score at 17-10, Georgetown cruised to a 25-20 victory.
The Broncos came back with a vengeance, though, and won the fourth set by a large 18-point margin. Heading into the fifth set with some momentum, UCSC stole a close 15-12 victory over Georgetown.
The Hoyas rebounded quickly, defeating cross-town rival American University in another competitive five-set match. As they did against UC Santa Clara, Sinnette and Speech starred with respective kills of 16 and 22, while Higareda tallied 25 digs on defense.
Both teams were evenly matched in the first set, with Georgetown trailing 7-9. Georgetown went on a run, though, after an eight-point serving streak propelled the Blue and Gray to a 25-19 victory.
The second set was decided toward the end, notably from timely kills by Speech and McKnight, which pushed the team to a 25-20 victory. Behind 2-0, American refused to back down in a three-set sweep and won the next two sets with the same score of 21-25.
In the fifth, American came out firing and quickly put themselves up 9-5, but, a kill from Eichie catapulted the Hoyas into a five-point run to give them the lead. With the score close at the end, Sinnette and sophomore outside hitter Charlotte Kelly executed with two consecutive kills, ending the final set 15-13 in Georgetown’s favor.
After the victorious weekend performance by the Hoyas, the women’s volleyball team has some momentum early in the season. They look to compete in the Service Academy Challenge in Arlington, Va. this weekend, starting with a match against The Citadel Military College this Friday at 12:30 p.m.
