Oct. 28, 2007
Box Score
Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University volleyball team lost a 3-0 decision to Villanova this afternoon at the Jake Nevin Field House. The Hoyas now own a 5-21 overall record with a 1-9 slate in BIG EAST Conference play. The Wildcats improve to 15-10 with a 7-4 mark in league action. Game scores were 28-30, 21-30, 23-30.
"The Hoyas got off to a great start," Head Coach Arlisa Hagan Williams said. "The Hoyas were neck and neck with Villanova through game one with a strong performance from Kit Niesen in the middle. Kortney Robinson did a great job passing and on the attack for us."
For the game, junior Katherine Niesen (Gainesville, Fla./Eastside) and sophomore Kortney Robinson (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) paced the team with 12 kills apiece. Niesen's 12 kills came off 19 attempts for a .474 hitting percentage while Robinson hit .231. Sophomore Kiersten McKoy (Oakland, Calif./Bishop O'Dowd) came off the bench to add two kills on four attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. Junior captain Caitlin Boland (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy). As a team, the Hoyas outblocked the Wildcats with six total team blocks to Villanova's five.
Game one saw the score tied 11 times. Through the first 26 points, neither team ever had more than a two-point lead as both teams traded points back and forth. In the first 13 points that Georgetown won, nine of them ended on a kill while the remaining four were as a result of a Villanova error. With the score tied at 13, Villanova went on to be the first team to extend the lead to more than two points as they took a 17-14 lead and then went on to take a 20-15 lead prompting a Georgetown timeout. After the break, back-to-back kills from Niesen and Robinson put the Hoyas within three, but Villanova held on to the lead. The two teams went point-for-point as Villanova held on to its three-point lead (27-24) as the Hoyas called their second timeout. Following the break, sophomore Jessica Hardy (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa) pitched in two-consecutive kills followed up by a Robinson kill to knot the score at 27 triggering Villanova's first timeout. Two-straight points gave Villanova double-game point. Niesen held off one game point with a kill on a dish from Boland. However, Villanova's Kacy Sellers tallied he fourth kill for game one. The Hoyas hit .262 in game one with 18 kills while Villanova recorded 20 kills on 41 attempts with just two errors.
In game two, Georgetown got off to a good start staying close with the Wildcats as the score was tied at eight. Villanova won eight of the next 10 points to take a 16-10 lead, provoking a GU timeout. The Wildcats extended the lead to eight on an ace and another kill from Sellers. The Hoyas traded points but the eight-point deficit was too much to overcome. A VU error and a shared blocking effort from Boland and freshman Vanessa Dorismond (Cary, N.C./Cardinal Gibbons) pulled the Hoyas within seven (26-19) but the Wildcats went on to win four of the next six points for the game.
The Blue and Gray started game three winning four-consecutive points with a kill from Hardy and a shared blocking effort from Boland and Niesen and another one from Niesen and Robinson. The fourth point came on a VU error. Villanova fired right back winning four-straight points to take a 5-4 lead but a service error pitted the score at five points apiece. Once again, GU traded points with Villanova until the score was tied at 12. Three-straight kills from Sellers prompted a Georgetown timeout but Sellers recorded her fourth-consecutive kill following the break to give the Wildcats a four-point lead that was extended to five after a kill from VU's Chelsea Graham. Villanova held a six-point lead until the Wildcats picked up three-straight points on kills from Sellers and Graham and a GU error - extending the lead to nine (27-18) and putting Villanova within three points of the match. Georgetown won five of the next seven points on the strong play of Hardy and Niesen - Niesen put up two kills while Hardy pitched in one and the two were credited with a shared blocking effort. However, with the Wildcats leading 29-23, VU's Whitney Harrington tallied her fifth kill for game three and the match.
The Hoyas return to action on Friday, November 2 when they travel to Notre Dame, Ind. for a 4 p.m. match against the Fighting Irish at the Joyce Center.
