Bulldogs Fall To Bears, 3-0
October 13, 2007 | Volleyball
MACON, Ga. – A day after downing Kennesaw State, the Gardner-Webb volleyball team had a hard time against Mercer, falling in three games to the host Bears. Game scores were 25-30, 22-30, 18-30.
The Bulldogs fall to 12-13 overall and 3-4 in A-Sun play while Mercer improves to 7-14 on the year and 5-1 in conference competition.
Junior Bethany Martin notched a team-best 11 kills while recording a team-high .409 attack percentage. Senior Ashley Pridgeon chipped in eight kills. Sophomore Regina Feagin dished out 31 of the 33 assists the team had for the match while she, Martin, Heidi Steinebrunner, Pridgeon and Megan Eden all had one service ace.
On the defensive front, junior Katie Matykowski posted a team-high 11 digs. Senior Audra Harrison added eight. At the net, sophomore Jessica Clayton played huge, recording a match-best two solo blocks to go along with a contest-high three block assists. She accounted for five of the Bulldogs' eight total team blocks.
All day long head coach Chris Phillips' team struggled to find open spaces. GWU either hit it long or wide, as the squad totaled 26 errors while only having 33 kills. The Bulldogs hit a mere .060 for the match compared to .255 for the home-standing Bears.
GWU took an early 7-5 lead in game one on a solo block by Clayton. The Bulldogs extended their lead to three on a ball handling error by Kelly Jansen. However, Mercer went on a 10-2 run thanks in part to attack errors by the Bulldogs' front-line, in addition to easy put-away shots by the Bears.
After GWU attempted to climb back into the contest, slicing the deficit to three on a Feagin ace, Mercer regained a four-point lead on a service error by Feagin. From there, the Bulldogs were unable to get any closer as Jen Darty scored the last four points for Mercer to close out the game with a 30-25 win.
GWU jumped out to an 8-4 advantage to start game two, but four consecutive errors by GWU knotted the game at 8-8. The Bears seized control of the game, opening up a 16-11 advantage on another miscue by Phillips' team.
Trailing 20-15, the Bulldogs called a timeout after an attack error by Martin. From there, GWU netted two straight points to pull within three, but once again the Bears widened their lead and eventually shut the door on the Bulldogs with a 30-22 game two win.
Phillips changed the starting line-up for game three in an attempt to revive the squad, but it didn't help. Mercer scored early and often, piling up a 10-3 advantage. Even a timeout by the Red and Black with the score 7-2 didn't seem to help.
However, the Bulldogs cut the deficit to five on a kill by Clayton, forcing a timeout by the home team. From there, though, the Bears responded with a seven-point run for a 20-8 lead. GWU was unable to cut down the miscues in the game, which eventually cost the team the game, 30-18, and the match.
The Bulldogs will attempt to get back on track on Oct. 20 as
they travel to nearby USC-Upstate for a 7 p.m., contest.
| Box Score |
| Combined Stats |
