Gardner-Webb Drops Match To Belmont On Senior Night; Mathison Records Career-High In Defeat
November 02, 2007 | Volleyball
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The senior trio of Audra Harrison, Jackie Mathison and Ashley Pridgeon were honored prior to the match against Belmont Friday evening and the Bruins upended the Bulldogs in three games, putting a damper on the night despite Mathison's career night. Game scores were 19-30, 25-30, 18-30.
Gardner-Webb falls to 13-16 on the season and 4-6 in A-Sun play. Belmont improves to 19-7 on the year and 8-2 in conference competition.
Mathison, who has been battling injuries all year long, came out with strong, stuffing the Bruins' offensive attack seven times, including one solo swat. Mathison's seven total blocks were a career high and it is the fifth-best total for a single match in school history. Her six block assists tied a career high that she established at Campbell on Nov. 4, 2006.
The Bulldogs notched 9.5 blocks on the evening as the Bethany Martin and Mathison accounted for the two solo blocks. Rookie Carrie Long assisted on a career-best five blocks while Martin had two block assists. Pridgeon and Jessica Clayton each had one block assist for the match.
Martin led the offense with a team-high eight kills while Heidi Steinebrunner chipped in five. Harrison and Long each had four kills in the match.
Sophomore Regina Feagin dished out a team-best 22 assists on the 27 total kills for GWU. She also added a team-best 11 digs. Head coach Chris Phillips' team served rather well, slicing the Bruin defense for nine service aces. Junior Katie Matykowski found three solid openings in the Belmont line-up when she dropped back to serve. Feagin, Harrison and Steinebrunner all had two service aces in the match.
Matykowski's three aces moved her into a tie for fourth on the single-season list with 45. A year ago Matykowski also notched 45 aces.
The teams battled early in the match as each team amounted a two-point lead only to see the other squad come right back to tie the contest. Feagin's ace tied the contest at 10-10. After two straight Belmont points, the Bulldogs tied the match again after a kill by Long and Harrison's ace. The teams traded points to make it 13 apiece, but then a kill by Jenny Gray gave the Bruins the lead for good.
After stretching the lead to five, a kill by Harrison on a pass from Martin cut the deficit to four at 20-16. However, GWU could get no closer as the Bruins amounted a 10-3 run to end the game.
A block by Mathison and Long to start game two gave the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead. The team would push the margin to three at 7-4 on a kill by Steinebrunner. However, Belmont was able to tie the game at 8-8.
Neither team could mount a run because the other team quickly countered with a point of its own. Trailing 19-18, Harrison slammed home a Feagin pass for yet another tie. After two quick Bruin points, a service error pulled GWU within one. However, it was as close as the team would get as Belmont gradually pulled away from the Red and Black to secure the game two victory.
With the loss of momentum, GWU found itself in a major hole in game three and the team was unable to virtually get back in the match. Trailing 10-1, a service error by Belmont gave the Bulldogs a break it needed. Behind Matykowski's serving, the team pulled within five only to see the visitors extend the lead to 10 at 19-9.
Trailing 23-10, GWU made a run, but it was not significant enough to pull the team even.
The Bulldogs return to action tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m., when
they host Lipscomb in Paul Porter Arena. A win guarantees GWU a
spot in the A-Sun tournament for the second consecutive season.
With a loss, the Bulldogs need UNF to defeat Stetson tomorrow in
order to go. The UNF-Stetson match is also slated for 3 p.m., in
Jacksonville, Fla.
| Combined Stats |
| Box Score |
