Before Friday night’s quarterfinal match against Rhode Island, head coach Amanda Ault posed an expected question to her team.
“Hey who’s nervous in here?’ asked the third year head coach to her ballclub. Ault watched as some of her players slowly raised their hands while others looked at their teammates before following suit.
“Everybody should be nervous,” Ault told her team. “You should have those nerves built up and that feeling because it’s the postseason, it’s new, it’s hosting, all those things go into it.”
Entering the match, only five members of the women’s volleyball roster had ever played in a postseason game for GW. Add the fact that GW hasn’t won a postseason match during Ault’s tenure, the team would play in front of its biggest home crowd of the year, and a win or go home scenario, and it was evident that the Colonials were rattled, at least in the first set of Friday’s match.
The set kept the crowd on it’s toes in its entirety as the momentum constantly passed over the net as the teams traded points.
Sixteen ties and five lead changes in the first set alone.
But a relentless URI team was able to capitalize on untimely GW errors and take the set on a seven-kill performance from sophomore Franki Darnold and a 15 assist first set showing from freshman Callan Kinnan.
Despite the first set loss, the Colonials found no reason to hang their heads as they were able to contend with the Rams throughout the set.
“We basically said, we went point for point, we played a good set, we just didn’t pull it out at the end,” Ault said. “The message was we need to stay with this because it’s going to be a game where are going to grind it out.”
The Colonials knew that in order to win the game they were going to need to match the efficiency of the Rams, which was showcased consistently throughout the night. But whether that took limiting their errors or erasing their pregame jitters GW responded, and they did so emphatically.
With both teams hitting well, the Colonials were able to surpass the Rams with excellent defensive play.
Both teams played superb defensively throughout Friday’s match. Players on both back lines were constantly diving to make play after impressive play after strong hitting performances on both sides would send balls rocketing off of back row dig attempts.
By the end of the match, the Colonials had tallied an impressive 73 digs, with four Colonials finishing in double figures. The team, though, was led by sophomore libero Maddy Doyle who seemed to be getting under almost every attack from the URI offense. Doyle said that after a week of waiting for the championships to arrive, she was mentally prepared to produce for her team.
“Leading up this week, all I could think of was I just want to be so aggressive,” Doyle said. “Having that mindset all the way leading up to the game I think that’s what helped me during the game. That’s was what fueled my defense.”
Ault described Doyle’s play Friday as “phenomenal,” but Doyle’s numbers were not by mistake. Ault added that redirecting the Rams’ attack was a strategy for her team entering the match.
“We wanted to funnel both the outsides, take line away from them, and funnel it to Maddy,” Ault said. “I think we did a good job of that. Maddy stepped in there and had some huge plays. She really took care of what she needed to do and I think our blockers took away the things we needed to.I think it made it easier on the defense to set up and play around them.“
On the front line, three players recorded a game-high four block assists, and as a team, the Colonials recorded nine blocks to the Rams’ four. One of those players was freshman Chidima Osuchkwu, who was a presence on the pin the entire match for GW.
“I was just thinking about doing everything I could do to help us win,” Osuchukwu said. “That was helping me to work on my individual game so that our team would get points and we would end up with a win.”
With everything clicking after the opening set, the Colonials were able to stay calm and relaxed and come away with the win (25-27, 25-21, 25-20, 25-19). The win marks the first posteason victory for the Colonials since 2008 and the first of Ault’s career at GW.
Doyle, Osuchukwu and Ault raved about the presence of their largest home crowd of the season who without a doubt fueled the GW roster throughout the night. The crowd served as the team’s extra push and erupted after every single point the Colonials scored.
“It was crazy to feel the support,” Doyle said “They were so loud, you could feel that everyone was there right behind you. It was just a really nice feeling. It definitely helped us to get that victory.”
Not to discredit the Colonials attack, which hit a notable .266 Friday, four Colonials ended the match in double-figures in kills, with senior Rachael Goss and Osuchukwu leading the Colonials with 15 kills apiece. The Colonials success on the pin was strung together by freshman Emily Clemens who finished the match with 48 assists.
Up next for the Colonials is No. 2 seed VCU who went 1-1 against GW in the regular season. GW will hope to channel the magic from Oct. 12 five-set upset win over the Rams on the Smith Center floor Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
