The GW volleyball team dropped two more conference matches last weekend with home loses to Xavier and Dayton Friday and Sunday. The Colonials now have a five-game Atlantic 10 Conference losing streak.
Dayton defeated GW 3-1 Sunday afternoon at the Smith Center. GW mounted a successful comeback in game three, but the momentum was wasted with a quick game-four loss to seal the loss for the Colonials (4-11, 3-5 A-10).
Both GW and Dayton field the youngest teams in the A-10. But Dayton’s inexperience hasn’t shown in the conference standings. The team is 7-1 despite having just two returning starters from last year’s team. The Colonials have one returning starter.
The Colonials lost their first two games quickly, 17-30 and 21-30. Dayton was more aggressive on offense and combined for 34 kills in the first two games to GW’s 21. Passing troubles continue to haunt GW, and the Colonials accumulated 16 errors in games one and two.
Game three was a stark contrast to the rest of the match. The Colonials came out of the locker room focused and ready to play and won the match 30-17.
“We came out a lot stronger more intense, more ready to play and focused,” freshman Britta Stroman said. “We took advantage of their mistakes.”
Dayton had seven errors in game three, their most of the match. They only had 10 kills, while the Colonials racked up 16.
But the momentum did not carry over, as Dayton took the last game 30-19 and the match 3-1. GW hit only .087 percent in game four while the Flyers hit .300. GW had 12 kills but eight errors.
“It took everything we had to right ourselves and get the momentum back on our side of the net,” Dayton head coach Pete Hoyer said
“We let down a little, we got overly confident, but we were still strong,” Stroman said.
Before Sunday’s loss, the Colonials lost three quick games to conference powerhouse Xavier. Xavier dominated GW with strong hitting percentages and kill totals in all three games, but GW’s poor hitting and errors added to the sweep.
GW only posted five kills and hit .133 in its 12-30 loss in game one. Xavier hit .500, its best effort of the night and racked up 18 kills.
Game two was more of the same. GW improved its hitting to .157 and accumulated 14 kills, but Xavier was untouchable with a match-high 20 kills and .400 hitting percentage.
The Musketeers were not as strong in game three, but GW’s errors were enough to give Xavier the 16-30 victory. Xavier had 10 kills – half as many as game two – but GW had a match-high 12 errors with nine kills, for a .097 hitting percentage, the lowest of the night.
GW gets another shot to improve its conference record Oct 19 at the Smith Center hosting Duquesne, a team the Colonials beat 3-1 Sept 22.
