Final Stats

WASHINGTON ââ'¬" The Georgetown University women's volleyball lost a pair of hard-fought matches on Saturday during the final day of play of the Georgetown Classic, losing in the morning to Princeton, 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 25-12, 13-15), and then falling in straight sets to Maryland (25-23, 25-18, 25-22). The Hoyas fall to 2-7 overall.

"I think the biggest thing with our group is that we really function at a high level when we have great communication and energy," Head Coach Arlisa Williams said. "They turned that around over the course of the weekend. We were celebrating and yelling and we were in it. We were in it in both matches, against Maryland and Princeton, and we just need to continue to pick each other up."

Maryland 3, Georgetown 0 (23-25, 18-25, 22-25)

The Hoyas took an early 9-6 lead in the first game before Maryland tied it at 10-all. The Hoyas would score seven of the next 10 points to take a 17-13 lead after a block from senior Ashlie Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Marymount) and still led, 22-19, on a kill by sophomore Symone Speech (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest). They could not hold the lead, however, as Maryland scored six of the next seven points to win 25-19.

Georgetown took an 11-8 lead in the second set, but Maryland tied the game at 11 apiece and would take a 17-14 lead after a kill by Angel Gaskin. The Blue & Gray trailed by only two points, 19-17, but Maryland used a 6-1 run to close out the set for the 25-18 win.

The Hoyas took an early 8-3 lead in the third game, with a trio of kills from Williams and one from sophomore Alyssa Sinnette (Pearland, Texas/Dawson), forcing Maryland to call a timeout. The Terps pulled to within 11-9, but the Hoyas again pulled away, with three kills from Speech giving GU a 15-9 lead. The Hoyas still led by five, 18-13, but Maryland used a 12-4 run to close out the set and the match.

Princeton 3, Georgetown 2 (25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 25-12, 13-15) The Hoyas won the first set, 25-23, breaking a 13-all tie with a 6-2 run to take a 19-15 lead after a pair of kills from Sinnette. The Tigers pulled to within 23-22, but Speech and sophomore Paige McKnight (Atlanta, Ga./Dunwoody) closed out the game with a pair of kills.

GU opened the second set by taking an 8-4 lead and extended that margin to five points, 14-9. Princeton cut the lead to 19-17, but kills from Speech and Sinnette and a block from Williams gave the Blue & Gray a 24-20 lead. The Tigers, however, scored six-straight points to win, 26-24.

Princeton used its momentum to build an early 5-1 lead and led by as much as 10 points, 19-9, before the Hoyas rallied and pulled to within four points, 23-19. It was not enough as Princeton won the fourth set, 25-19.

The Hoyas rode their own momentum in the fourth set, building a 10-4 lead early and extending it to 13 points (20-7) after one of three kills in the set for junior Meghan Richard (Firestone, Colo./Niwot [Seattle University]) before claiming the 25-12 win and tying the game. The fifth set was back and forth until Princeton broke a 10-all tie and edged the Hoyas, 15-13.

Speech led the way with 19 kills, while Williams added 14 kills and six digs McKnight had 18 digs and 50 assists and Kenzie Higareda (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) had 21 digs.

Georgetown is back in action next weekend, traveling to Colorado to play in the Air Force Invitational. The Hoyas open tournament play on Friday, Sept. 16 against Northern Colorado (2 p.m.) and Air Force (9 p.m.).

Jessica Lewis of Towson was named the Georgetown Classic MVP and she was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Jocelyn Kulian and Anna Holehouse. Also selected to the all-tournament team were Ashlyn MacGregor and Kelsey Wicinski of Maryland, Nnenna Ibe of Princeton and McKnight from Georgetown.