GW toppled its Revolutionary Rival in a three-set victory Saturday, marking the tenth time the Colonials have swept an opponent this season.
The Colonials got the season sweep they desired after first taking down the Patriots at home, 3-1, on Sept. 25.
Even though junior middle blocker Chidima Osuchukwu was inactive in the Halloween contest while continuing to recover from an injury, the Colonials were able to run the floor and use pin options on the attack. Set scores were 25-23, 25-22 and 25-14.
The Patriots (9-16, 3-7 A-10) were competitive in the first two sets, climbing back from tough deficits to keep the Colonials (18-8, 7-3 A-10) on their feet. But the match seemed to be too much for the Patriots to handle and they succumbed to multiple attack errors and nine service errors. GW controlled the entire third set, with senior libero Maddy Doyle setting the tempo and sophomore outside hitter Aaliya Davidson racking up double-digit kills.
“With our ball control and our serve-receive, we were able to put ourselves in system and run what we needed to run,” head coach Amanda Ault said. “Our back court did a good job with starting the offense off, and I don’t ever think we got rattled, which was good to see.”
In the first set, both teams traded back-and-forth service errors to open play. The Colonials had an early 5-2 advantage after Davidson notched her first service ace of the game, and built it to their strongest lead of the set at 21-15. The Patriots countered with a 4-0 run, but ultimately could not stop the GW attack.
The second set was a similar story, as GW started as the aggressor until George Mason got a spark off the bench to close the gap near the end of the set. The Colonials were up 20-14, but the Patriots came back to tie the game at 22.
The tenor of the game shifted. The Colonials had let their lead slip when aggressive attempts like a move at the net by freshman outside hitter Kelsey Clark and a sharp swing from Davidson were blocked or went long, so they began to play mind games, tipping the ball at the net and relying on defense. Along with blocking, the back court lead the charge and Doyle finished the game with 17 digs.
“I think Maddy is taking command, she’s on her game and making great plays,” Ault said. “There were a couple times today where the ball would either come over on a free ball or a hard dig across the court, and she did a good job of finding the right spots.”
The Colonials came out of the lockers at the half ready to run away with the third set. They scooted out to an early 12-4 lead, after back-to-back kills by Clark and sophomore middle blocker Kristel Moor. The rest of the set was more even, but the Colonials pulled out a 25-14 victory to take the match in a clean sweep.
Davidson finished the match with 11 kills and six digs, followed by senior middle blocker Maggie Skjelbred and Moor who finished with eight and seven kills, respectively. Without Osuchukwu, senior setter Jordan Timmer has been working to bring more versatility to the offense.
“Jordan has been working on finding more of a balance, using the right hitters at the right times and really opening our offense up,” Ault said.
The Colonials hit the road again on Friday to match up against conference leader Dayton at 7 p.m.
