Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

VOLLEYBALL | Hoyas Play Host to Three Teams in Home Finale

ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
This weekend, the Georgetown volleyball team will face the three new additions to the Big East conference for the first time.

Xavier, No. 9 Creighton and Butler all travel to Washington, D.C. to take on the Hoyas (10-13, 4-6 Big East) in a busy weekend.

In their first year as members of the Big East Conference, all three teams boast winning records.

With no previous game experience to draw upon, facing all three teams in one weekend presents the Hoyas with a steep learning curve.

“It’s exciting for us to play people that we don’t know. It doesn’t normally happen at this point in the season,” Head Coach Arlisa Williams said. “I think on the other side of that though is, ‘Hey, we don’t know them,’ so we just don’t know how good they’re going to be. We get a good idea from video, but video doesn’t always show the true team.”

Xavier (16-9, 7-3) has only lost two conference matches — against Creighton and Marquette, both of whom are ranked in the top 15 of the NCAA standings.

The Musketeers are coming off a hard loss to Marquette, where junior setter Aubree Smith had 46 assists, 22 digs and nine kills, falling one short of a triple-double.

Georgetown will then have to face No. 9 Creighton (16-6, 7-3) who is tied for second in the conference. The Blue Jays have six players averaging at least 1.5 kills per set.

However, Creighton lost recently to St. John’s, who the Blue and Gray have beaten, so depending on which Hoya team shows up, it could be anyone’s game.

“One of the things we’ve been focusing on this week is just coming out hard from the beginning,” Williams said.

Georgetown will also need to jump to a quick lead against an explosive Butler team (19-6, 6-4). Butler has a strong offensive front. In the Bulldogs’ last match — a three-set sweep of DePaul — they managed to have three players in double-digit kills.

Georgetown will turn to its own offensive machine, outside hitter Lauran Saar. The sophomore was named to the Big East Honor Roll this week for her performance against Villanova, in which she had a season-high 21 kills and 14 digs in her 15th double-double of the year.

I think that Lauren makes a huge difference,” Williams said. “She’s passing extremely well, she plays good defense and she is very patient with her swings and takes them when they’re there. She really helps our team elevate to another level.”

Junior middle blocker Dani White and junior outside hitter Alex Johnson are also integral offensive pieces, while junior libero MacKenzie Simpson leads the defensive effort.

Sunday will be Senior Day for the Hoyas, who have three seniors: right-side hitter Brooke Bachesta and redshirt seniors outside Annalee Abell and libero Whitney Jencks.

Abell has been a force for the Hoyas this year, while Bachesta and Jenks have contributed the occasional momentum changing plays.

And momentum is what the Blue and Gray need this weekend. They’ve struggled with consistency this season, having good games when they come out strong early but struggling to pull themselves out of holes even with late game rallies.

A quick start was key in the Hoyas’ latest win against Villanova last weekend, when they jumped out to a quick lead in the first two sets, dropped the next two and came back in a thrilling fifth set to secure the victory.

“I think that last week we played really well in sets one, two and five, and our players recognize that we have to come out hard,” Williams said.

Georgetown will have to come out firing on all cylinders and be able to make quick turnarounds in between games, as it does not have much resting time this weekend.

“I think the biggest challenge this weekend is playing three matches in a row. That is a lot of volleyball — a lot of important volleyball — in a very short period of time,” Williams said.

In the final home stand of the season, Georgetown is seeking to break .500 in its conference record with a weekend sweep.

And Williams can’t stress enough the importance and power of the home court advantage.

“We need fans in the stands,” she said.

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