Nov. 8, 2013
Final Stats
WASHINGTON - Despite a career-high 17 kills from freshman Ashlie Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Marymount), the Georgetown volleyball team (10-14, 4-7 BIG EAST) dropped an exciting, back-and-forth match, 3-2 (17-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 17-15), to Xavier in a BIG EAST match at McDonough Arena on Friday night. Xavier (17-9, 8-3 BIG EAST) came into the match tied for second in the conference with Creighton.
Williams only had three attacking errors to her 17 kills for an outstanding .424 hitting percentage. Alex Johnson (Tampa, Fla./Plant) finished with a double-double effort, pounding down 17 kills and digging 16 balls. Dani White (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) was also in double figures with 13 kills while hitting at a .333 clip. Caitlin Brauneis (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) had a match-high 57 assists to go along with eight digs. MacKenzie Simpson (Greensboro, N.C./Northwest Guilford) led the defense with 19 digs while Emily Gisolfi (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) had 15 and Lauren Saar (Richland, Mich./Plainwell) added 14 to go along with nine kills.
The Hoyas were flying at the start, scoring the first seven points of the first set. White started the opening run with a kill and added a second while Johnson and Brauneis each had one to go along with three Xavier attacking errors. The Musketeers closed to within four at 12-8, but that would be as close as they would get as the Hoyas answered with a 5-2 run to take a 17-10 lead. Johnson, White and Saar all had a kill to lead the charge. Williams added two more kills and Simpson had a service ace as -Georgetown took the opening set 25-17. Saar and White each led the Georgetown offense with four kills apiece while Williams and Johnson each added three. Saar also added a team-high five digs.
The second set was much tighter as neither team could build a lead of more than three points the entire way as there were 10 scoring ties and five lead changes. Trailing 7-4, two kills from Williams, sandwiched around back-to-back aces from Saar, eliminated the deficit and gave the Hoyas an 8-7 lead. Again trailing by three, this time at 18-15, Georgetown fought back to knot things up at 21 behind two kills from Johnson, one by Williams and four Xavier errors. A service ace from Brauneis eventually gave the Hoyas a late 23-22 lead but, after a timeout, the Musketeers scored the final three points to win the set 25-23 and tie the match at one set apiece. Williams led the Hoyas offensively with five kills while Johnson added four. Simpson led all players with eight digs.
The third set was almost a mirror of the second as there were 10 scoring ties and five lead changes. The two teams were knotted up at 9-9 when the Hoyas broke out with a 6-1 run highlighted by aces from Simpson and Gisolfi and kills from Williams and White. Xavier eventually fought back to take a 22-21 advantage but back-to-back kills from Johnson and Brooke Bachesta (Sammamish, Wash./Eastside Catholic) gave the lead right back to the Hoyas at 23-22. After Xavier fought off one set point a Williams' kill and a big double block from Williams and Bachesta gave Georgetown a 26-24 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match. Williams and Johnson each had five kills to lead the Hoyas' offense in the third set while Johnson and Gisolfi led the defense with four digs.
A 3-0 run by the Hoyas, keyed by kills from White and Williams, gave Georgetown an early 6-3 lead in the third set. Xavier responded, however, with three straight points of its own to tie the score at six. The teams sided out for several points before another 3-0 run by the Musketeers gave the visitors a 12-9 lead. An ace by Johnson eventually gave the lead back to Georgetown at 14-13. A kill by Bachesta and Xavier error pushed the Hoyas' lead to 16-13, but the Musketeers exploded for a 9-0 run to take a 22-16 lead. A kill by Saar and three consecutive attacking errors by Xavier cut Georgetown's deficit to 22-20, but Xavier closed the set on a 3-1 run to even the match with a 25-21 victory. Bachesta and Williams each had three kills in the frame while Gisolfie had four digs defensively.
The Musketeers took leads of 3-0 and 6-3 in the deciding fifth set, but the Hoyas kept fighting to pull within one each time thank to kills from White and Saar and a joint block from Williams and Annalee Abell (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay). With Xavier leading 8-7 at the changeover, the Hoyas rattled off four consecutive points, led by back-to-back kills from Johnson, to take a 10-8 lead. Xavier tied the score at 10, but Georgetown answered right back with a 3-1 run, on kills from Johnson and White, to take a 13-11 lead. Following a timeout, the Musketeers again put together two straight points to tie the score. An Xavier service error gave the Hoyas match point, but Xavier fought it off with a kill. The Blue and Gray then faced match point, by a kill by Williams tied the score at 15. Xavier's Abbey Bessler put in back-to-back kills however, giving the Musketeers the 17-15 fifth-set win. Johnson had three kills in the set while Saar had three digs.
"Tonight just got away from us," Hoyas' head coach Arlisa Williams said. "There were some bright moments. We came out strong and fought back at times when we were down, but we were just inconsistent throughout the entire match. We are playing tough teams down this final stretch and we cannot expect them to give points to us, we have to go out and earn them. We did not do that tonight."
"Ashlie Williams continues to improve with every match. She keeps breaking her career-high kills mark and is doing so in a very efficient manner. I am extremely proud of all the work she puts in at practice and it is showing in these past few matches."
Georgetown will continue its extended home-stand with a 7 p.m. matchup with Creighton on Saturday. Prior to the match, the Hoyas will celebrate their three seniors - Abell, Bachesta and Whitney Jencks (Arlington, S.D./Arlington) - with a Senior Day ceremony.
