The GW women’s volleyball team split its weekend matches in Philadelphia as GW defeated La Salle Friday but lost to Temple the following night.
GW junior Jill Levey broke her foot against La Salle and her status for the remainder of the season is uncertain. Fellow junior Suzana Manole and senior Gabriela Mojska stepped up for the Colonial women, who find themselves still in the hunt for a berth in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
GW (13-8, 8-5 A-10) hosts Virginia Tech Friday in a crucial home match.
Temple 3, GW 0
Saturday, Oct. 30
The Temple Owls broke GW’s four-game winning streak Saturday at McGonigle Hall, sweeping the season series between the two teams.
Temple’s Alma Kovaci continued her domination over the Colonial women as she pounded 38 kills and added 20 defensive digs for the Lady Owls. GW committed only 14 errors in the match, making for a close contest, but Temple overpowered GW in the end. Temple’s victory marked its seventh win over the Colonial women in the teams’ last eight meetings.
Temple (16-4, 10-1 A-10) finished off GW 15-12 in the final game despite the Colonial women’s strong attack percentage of .308 with 15 kills and only three errors. Mojska led GW with 13 kills and junior Tracee Brown added 11 for the Colonial women.
We could have beaten Temple, Mojska said. There were just some little things that didn’t go our way.
GW’s 21-kill performance in the middle game was not enough as the Colonial women tested the A-10 leading Lady Owls but lost 16-14. Temple pounded 30 kills in the game, which made up for its 11 errors.
GW’s 15-8 loss to open the match was its weakest performance of the contest. The Colonial women only had 13 kills in the game. Manole stepped up in the match, contributing 33 assists and 13 digs in the setter role usually played by Levey. Junior Renee Arnold added 12 kills in 33 attempts for GW.
Temple had 80 digs compared to GW’s 49 for the match, enabling the Lady Owls to set up their attack, which out-pounded GW 73-49 in kills. The Lady Owls held off GW despite being out-blocked 19.5-8.5 in the match.
GW 3, La Salle 0
Friday, Oct. 29.
GW swept La Salle 3-0 at Tom Gola Arena and also swept the season series against the Lady Explorers.
GW did pay a price in the victory as Levey broke her foot in the opener. GW was able to dominate the net, which paved the way for the Colonial women’s 10th consecutive victory over La Salle (13-13, 1-9 A-10), dating back to the teams’ first meeting in 1995. Mojska, Brown and junior Julie Jahnke played leading roles in the Colonial women’s victory Friday.
GW defeated La Salle 15-10 in the final game as the Lady Explorers folded in the end. The team’s nine kills and 12 errors cost La Salle as it lost its ninth conference match of the season. Manole contributed 30 assists in the place of Levey, who played one game and had three assists.
GW won the middle game 15-8 as La Salle committed 11 errors and GW pounded 11 kills. Brown had 10 kills and 13 digs for the match.
Mojska’s 12 kills and Jahnke’s eight block assists lifted GW in a 21-19 opening game thriller over La Salle. The 21-point performance was GW’s highest single-game point total in 22 years, dating back to GW’s 23-21 win against the College of William & Mary.
The (21-point) game was exciting, Mojska said. But there was a lot of confusion after Jill (Levey) went down.
