Wrapping up its final road trip of the season, the GW women’s volleyball team garnered two victories to carry it into its final four-game home stand. The Colonial women defeated Duquesne in five games Friday and swept St. Bonaventure Saturday.
“That was our goal going into the weekend, and it felt great,” head coach Susie Homan said. “We knew we needed to do that to be in the hunt for the conference tournament.”
Homan said she was pleased with the team’s performance.
“This weekend we just enjoyed the consistency as a team, and in addition to that had individuals perform at a very high level,” she said.
The Colonial women (18-11, 8-8 Atlantic 10) will finish their season at the Smith Center with a four-game homestand, including big matches against Rhode Island and Dayton.
“For all the teams in the conference, being on the road has been very difficult this year because of the parity and the travel distance,” Homan said.
GW 3, St. Bonaventure 0
The Colonial women easily dispatched St. Bonaventure, sweeping the Bonnies 3-0 Saturday. The Bonnies had just upset conference powerhouse Fordham Friday night.
“I thought they were going to come out and play tougher than they’ve ever played, but they struggled. Very honestly, they were pretty flat,” Homan said.
The Bonnies struggled against the Colonial women. GW’s attack percentage was .292 compared to St. Bonaventure’s .071.
“As a team we played pretty well, but it just wasn’t the same competition as the night before,” Homan said.
The match also gave an opportunity for everyone to get playing time, especially freshmen Tracee Brown and Renee Arnold, who played all three games.
A-10 Rookie of the Week Suzana Manole finished a good weekend with a team-high 11 kills and a .444 attack percentage.
GW 3, Duquesne 2
Aided by strong blocking in the first two games, the Colonial women defeated the Duquesne team they lost to 3-1 Oct. 4. GW had an incredible seven blocks in game one, and six more in game two.
When GW’s serving and blocking dropped off in the next two games, it opened the door for Duquesne. But GW slammed the door shut in game five and was victorious, 15-10, 15-8, 10-15, 15-17, 15-9. Homan said the Colonial women have improved quite a bit since the two teams’ last meeting.
“We were very confident going into the match. We knew if we took care of certain things that we were very capable of beating Duquesne,” she said.
Tai Bethune led the blocking force with 7.5 blocks. She also had 14 kills. She was helped by Julie Jahnke and Manole, who combined for 6.5 blocks. Setter Jill Levey collected 52 assists.
