WASHINGTON – Georgetown University's volleyball team split its opening day of the season at the Hyatt Regency Invitational, hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The Hoyas dropped a tough 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-10, 25-18) decision to Abilene Christian to open the day before rallying for a 3-2 (17-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-17, 15-12) victory over Idaho State in the nightcap for head coach Toby Rens' first victory on the Hilltop.
Match 1 – Abilene Christian 3, Georgetown 1
A pair of Hoyas posted double-doubles, led by senior Alyssa Sinnette (Pearland, Texas/Dawson) with 15 kills and 12 digs while freshman Jessica Cusi (Pacifica, Calif./Lick Wilmerding) had a solid collegiate debut with 12 assists and 10 digs. Senior Symone Speech (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) chipped in 14 kills and hit at a sharp .650 clip while sophomore Margo Pivonka (Broadview Heights, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) notched 21 assists and senior Kenzie Higareda (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) led all players with 16 digs.
Georgetown claimed the opening set behind 15 kills and a .273 hitting percentage. The Hoyas led early in the frame courtesy of a strong service rotation from Higareda to take a 6-2 lead. Abilene Christian would slowly chip away at the GU lead, eventually knotting things up at 12-12 and again at 14-14. A 7-4 run by the Hoyas put Georgetown up 21-18 and forced ACU to call a timeout. Coming out of the huddle, GU pushed its lead to 24-19 and held off the Wildcats down the stretch for a 25-23 win in the set.
In the second set, Georgetown picked up where it left off and jumped out to another 5-1 lead behind Higareda's serving acumen. Abilene Christian kept pace, eventually tying things up at 10-10 before taking the lead, up 13-10, behind three-straight points. The Hoyas responded with a 4-0 run to take a 14-13 lead, and eventually led 21-16 before the Wildcats began to mount a comeback. Closing out the stanza on a 9-1 run, ACU evened the match a 1-1 with the 25-22 set victory.
Abilene Christian led from start to finish in the third, hitting at an impressive .619 clip while committing a lone attack error. Georgetown had just eight kills in the frame but posted its second-best attack percentage of the match.
The fourth set was a back-and-forth affair, highlighted by five tied scores and a pair of lead changes. Following an early lead change, GU pushed hard to take a 14-11 lead before the Wildcats rallied to knot things at 16-16. Abilene Christian then closed out the set, and the match, on a 9-2 run to take the set, 25-18, and the match, 3-1.
Katelyn Mueller led the Wildcats with 19 kills and 10 digs for a double-double.
Match 2 – Georgetown 3, Idaho State 2
In the nightcap, Georgetown used a well-balanced offensive performance to rally from a 2-0 deficit to claim its first victory of the season. Three different Hoyas notched double-digit kills while junior Iva Vujosevic (Bar, Montenegro/Niko Rolovic/UMES) and Sinnette both tallied double-doubles. Sinnette led the Blue & Gray with 17 kills to go with 11 digs while Vujosevic added 16 kills and 14 digs.
Speech added another 14 kills to go with nine blocks and five service aces while Higareda hauled in 26 digs.
Idaho State took control of the match early, claiming the opening two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-20. The Bengals came out with the hot hand, hitting .441 and .333 in the two sets, respectively.
Georgetown's defense clamped down following the break, holding ISU to a paltry seven kills and a -.029 attack percentage in the third set. The Hoya offense came alive in the stanza as well, posting 13 kills while hitting at a .250 clip to take the set, 25-18.
In the fourth, GU put together another solid offensive performance while not letting the Bengals to get back into their groove.
Vujosevic was credited with four of her five service aces in the set while Sinnette chipped in five kills.
With both teams battling for their first win of the season, Georgetown found itself on the wrong end of an 8-5 score at the switch. Rallying back, the Blue & Gray tied things up at 11-11 courtesy of a huge block from Speech and sophomore Brennan Wilhite (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Cathedral Catholic/USC) and scored four of the final five points of the match to claim victory.
Nicole Lee led Idaho State with 10 kills while Haylie Keck had 28 digs.
Georgetown returns to action on Saturday as it takes on Winthrop at 2 p.m. and Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. Live stats for both matches can be found on www.GUHoyas.com and the match against the host Yellow Jackets will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
