This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Alex Kist.
Brimming with confidence after a nail-biting victory over VCU, the Colonials pushed the offensive envelope in the third set Saturday to sweep Davidson on Senior Night.
Competing in her final game in the Charles E. Smith Center, senior outside hitter Kelsey Newman was a destructive force on the floor.
With GW (19-7, 9-3 A-10) leading 12-6 in the third, Newman smacked down four straight kills to demoralize Davidson (4-19, 2-11 A-10). Newman also led all players with 17 kills and swung a .256 percentage, committing only six errors on 43 attempts.
“Staying in the moment and staying ahead of the play are really important,” head coach Amanda Ault said. “You know you are putting yourself in great positions, thinking of all the things that can affect you or hurt you so that you are ready for that, instead of being shocked, and being aggressive and disciplined on the defensive end.”
In the first set, senior middle hitter Landon Garvik brought a long rally to a close with a powerful kill, breaking a 5-5 draw to put GW on top. Capitalizing on the Wildcats’ miscommunication on the floor and five attack errors, the Colonials were able to hold the lead for the remainder of the set.
Davidson applied more pressure in the second set, making GW fight for every point. A ball-handling error by junior setter Jordan Timmer brought the Wildcats to a 7-9 two-point deficit. But the Colonial’s answered back, and managed to take a five-point 20-15 lead after a sharp kill by sophomore middle blocker Chidima Osuchukwu. Even though Davidson brought it to 22-20, GW’s unrelenting offense won the set 25-21 off back-to-back kills.
“We kept talking about that we needed to play a little bit faster and give a little bit more,” Ault said. “I thought we were kind of slow just on all points. Our defense, we weren’t really getting stopped on the hitters’ contact. On attacking, we weren’t really driving up and able to hit the ball down.”
GW and Davidson went point-for-point in the final set, until the Colonials amassed three straight runs to command a 10-5 lead. Newman pounded a kill to the floor, and freshman middle blocker Emily Newell put down another two kills to extinguish any Wildcats momentum. A kill from Newman finished off Davidson to hand GW the set, 25-18.
“During the break we talked about, ‘Are we going to be happy with our body of work when we’re finished?’ and they said right then that they weren’t,” Ault said. “We made sure that we have one more set to take care of things and so when we were finished we could say, ‘Hey we didn’t start off the way that we wanted to, but we made a change, we made a difference and we really took care of it and moved forward.’”
GW came alive in the third set, cleaning up its serving game and defending with power, Ault said.
Junior libero Maddy Doyle racked up 16 digs on the night and added five assists, while freshman defensive specialist Christina Porada tallied a season-high three service aces and totaled three digs.
“Our serving definitely got better in the third set,” Ault said. “As we focus on these next couple weeks, we’ve got to really hone in on every serve that goes back there and really try to make a run and bust that gap open a little bit more.”
Along with serving, the Colonials will work on team defense, focusing on the block and the back line, Ault said.
GW is in second place in the A-10 conference, with only two road matches left to play. The Colonials next head to the Bronx to compete against Fordham on Friday.
