Aug 31, 2013
Box Score
WASHINGTON - Though it took four nailbiting sets to do so, the Georgetown women's volleyball team (2-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) got the job done against crosstown foe Howard on Saturday night at Bender Arena on the campus of American University. Led by Alex Johnson's match-high 17 kills, the Hoyas defeated the Bison, 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 10-25, 26-24).
"I liked the way that we came out against Howard," Head Coach Arlisa Williams said after the win. "Especially after not playing as well as we are capable of this morning (against American).
"We put together complete sets in sets one and two, then kind of fell apart in the third. I think that the good thing about us, as a group, is the way we came back in set four. It was a dogfight."
Dani White continued her season's fast start with 14 kills of her own, adding five total blocks (three solo) on the defensive side of the net. MacKenzie Simpson and Caitlin Brauneis combined to be a force on defense as well, totaling 29 digs between the two.
It was redshirt senior Annalee Abell who got the Hoyas started in the early going with a kill on the right side to open the first set. In what would become the norm for the match, each squad traded blows back and forth. A Brauneis service ace extended Georgetown's lead to 10-6 in the early going, but the Bison grabbed three aces in a row of their own to knot things up at 10-10 soon there after.
The triple-threat of White, Johnson and Lauren Saar eventually guided the Hoyas to a 23-19 lead, followed by a Johnson kill to end the first set in Georgetown's favor, 25-20.
The second frame went in the way of the first, in score and tempo. After going down 2-1 to open the set, Georgetown regained the lead at 3-2 and never looked back, though Howard kept nipping at the heels. At one point, the Bison climbed back with eight of nine points in a row to tie things at 16-16, but two kills from White and two attack errors from HU kept the Hoyas moving along. Eventually, freshman Ashlie Williams finished off the Bison with a tremendous set-clinching point to win the second.
The third set, however, was a taller mountain to climb for the Blue & Gray. Howard pounced out to a 7-3 lead, going on to claim the next 18 of 25 set points en route to a 25-10 win. After hitting .000 through two sets, Howard found the energy it needed to fight back.
But Georgetown, with its experience, fought off the threat in the decisive fourth set. It appeared Howard would continue to roll, going up 3-0 early, but Kills from Johnson and Abell, followed by an ace from MacKenzie Simpson sparked a Hoya run.
Even with a small run, neither team led by more than two points until the Blue & Gray pulled ahead late, 22-20. The Bison, however, fought back, taking reaching set-point at 24-23. Not to be outdone, the Hoyas roared back thanks to kills from Johnson and White to make it 25-24. Brauneis gave Georgetown the win with a superb block at the net to snatch away the victory.
Georgetown returns to action Tuesday with a nonconference showdown at Liberty. The Hoyas and Flames will do battle at 7 p.m. in Lynchburg.
