Volleyball Edges Wofford in Five Games
9/23/2007 4:12:00 AM | Volleyball
SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- The Georgia Southern volleyball team got back on the winning track with an extremely close 3-2 (25-30, 30-27, 31-29, 29-31, 15-13) victory over Wofford Sunday afternoon at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
The win snaps an eight-match losing streak dating back to Sept. 1. The Eagles improve to 4-12 and 1-3 in the Southern Conference while the Terriers drop to 6-8 and 0-2.
“Today was a great team win for us,” said GSU head coach Nicole McCray. “Everyone played their part and gave 100 percent and we were fortunate to come out with a win.”
Four of the five games were decided by three points or less and the last three were by two each.
After the two teams split the first two frames, Georgia Southern took a 2-1 lead by scoring the last eight points of the third game. A service error gave Wofford a 29-23 advantage, but freshmen Sarah Gildersleeve (Naples, Fla.) and Laura Beth Lancaster (Ocala, Fla.) combined for six kills, with Lancaster providing the final point.
It was Wofford’s turn to rally in game four, saving a match point at 29-28 before Joanna Suddath and Liz Sheets combined on a block to go up one. A GSU error tied the match at 2-2.
Freshman Michelle Uzoh (San Antonio, Texas) and junior Bianca Julio (Curitiba, Brazil) had two blocks each in the deciding game. Junior Christy Dowd (Indianapolis, Ind.) closed out the hard-fought match with her 11th kill.
“We made plays in game five,” added McCray. “We blocked balls at the end and had some great defense.”
GSU senior Gorana Bacic (Richmond, Va.) led all players with a season-high 16 kills. Julio added 13 and Dowd had 11. Junior Mae Chabra (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) dished out 53 assists and senior Bailey Coleman (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) totaled 20 digs.
“This is what we needed,” said McCray. “We needed to get the monkey off our back. We are on a mission and hungry right now, which will hopefully help us finish conference play a lot better than we started.”
For Wofford, Anna Gustafson and Liz Sheets recorded 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Sarah Palmer tallied 25 digs.
Georgia Southern returns home next weekend when they host Chattanooga Saturday morning at 11 a.m. and Western Carolina Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
