GW squared off against Xavier Friday ready to post another victory against a team they defeated last month.
Tied with the Musketeers – a team they defeated Oct. 9, for third place with the A-10 – the Colonials (17-8) seemed to have the impetus they needed to post another victory. Instead, Xavier snapped GW’s five-game win streak, sweeping them 3-0, and Dayton handed the Colonials another 3-0 loss Saturday.
The defeats, head coach Amanda Ault said, came from a lack of drive.
“We were really focused in practice and during pregame, but Xavier had the momentum and they never looked back,” Ault said.
GW opened Friday’s play with a 4-1 scoring run, but Xavier came back to knot the score at five. The two teams traded points, tying again at 12. The Musketeers then broke away, cementing their set victory with a final 13-5 scoring run that ensured them a 25-17 win.
Xavier continued to dominate the second and third sets, swinging a commanding .400. The Musketeers complemented their strong offensive front with an equally imposing defensive effort, keeping the Colonials to a .000 in the second set and an even more disappointing -.037 in the third set, play that ensured Xavier set scores of 25-14 and 25-12 in the third and second sets, respectively.
“It’s what happens when you let the other team get comfortable,” Ault said. “Things were just going their way.”
GW fell again to Dayton Saturday, again dropping a 3-0 decision.
The Colonials battled through a challenging first match, seeing 19 ties and six lead changes, and were in command of a 19-17 lead late in the first. But it wasn’t enough to challenge a tough Dayton defense that posted seven team blocks en route to a 26-24 first set win.
The Flyers swung .205 in the second set and .207 in the third, enabling Dayton to finish the game in a three-set sweep with 25-19 and 25-10 victories, respectively. GW could only manage to swing a combined -.027 in both the second and third set. The one bright spot for the Colonials was junior Lauren Whyte’s performance, who posted her sixth double-double for the season with 14 kills and 10 digs.
GW is now 6-5 in the Atlantic-10 conference, and in order to qualify for the Atlantic 10 tournament, the team must be in the top six of the standings. The Colonials still have four league matches left, including their final home matches of the season against Saint Louis (Fri., 7 p.m.) and Duquesne (Sat., 7 p.m.) this weekend.
“The goal is to be in Dayton in three weeks for the championship, and we need to take care of that,” said Ault, “We know it’s going to be a fight for the last couple of positions, every single match will be important for us.”
This article was updated on Nov. 2 to reflect the following:
The Hatchet incorrectly reported that the volleyball team has four matches left in the season. In fact, they have four league matches left in the season.
