Bulldogs Take Down Buffalo In 3-1 Win
September 15, 2007 | Volleyball
CONWAY, S.C. – Junior Bethany Martin and senior Audra Harrison both notched hitting percentages above .475 on Saturday morning, helping the Gardner-Webb volleyball team rebound in the final match of the Coastal Carolina Tournament with a 3-1 victory over Buffalo. Game scores were 30-19, 30-18, 21-30, 30-19.
The Bulldogs improve to 8-7 on the season while Buffalo falls to 1-15.
Martin posted a match-high 17 kills on 31 attempts for a .484 attack percentage. Harrison finished the match with 12 kills on 20 attempts for a match-high .500 attack percentage. She also recorded a match-best 12 digs, as did Katie Matykowski.
Along with her 12 digs, Matykowski spliced the Bulls' defense with a match-high four service aces.
Senior Ashley Pridgeon and junior Heidi Steinebrunner posted 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Steinebrunner garnered a double-double as she reached double figures with 11 digs.
Sophomore Regina Feagin had a match-high 44 assists, accounting for 88 percent of the Bulldogs' assists in the contest. She also comprised another double-double, tallying 10 digs in the match.
In game one, the Bulldogs had already doubled up the Bulls 15 points in, 10-5. GWU extended its lead to seven on a kill by Martin at 16-9. Buffalo pulled within five, 22-17. However, Pridgeon and Harrison posted back-to-back kills, forcing a timeout by the opposition. After the break, GWU limited the Bulls to just two points as the offense continued its strong play, finishing the game on a 6-2 run.
Martin opened the second game with a kill, which was followed by a Matykowski ace. Pridgeon had a kill and Harrison posted two straight, allowing GWU to bolt out to a 5-0 lead. The Bulldogs maintained the lead for a while, but the Bulls charged back into the mix after an attack error by a Bulldog made the score 11-8 in favor of head coach Chris Phillips' team.
However, GWU regained its composure and scored the next five points, forcing a timeout by Buffalo. The Bulls came out of the break and scored three of the next four points, but Harrison stopped the run with a kill. Martin followed her with one of her own. The duo teamed up to score the next two points – on an ace by Harrison and another kill bill Martin for a 20-11 lead. The teams continued to trade points the rest of the way, but GWU was never seriously challenged, closing out the game with a 30-18 win.
The Bulldogs got down early in game three by a 6-1 count and had a hard time trying to slice into the lead. In fact, GWU only pulled within four on two occasions in the game, at 8-4 and 18-14. During the game, the Bulldogs had too many unforced errors, leading to the game three loss.
GWU bounced back in game four to seal the victory. The game was close early on, but a service error by Lindsey Schlegel sparked an 8-0 run by the Bulldogs, allowing them to go up 14-6. During the run, GWU used unforced errors by Buffalo to take the lead.
Martin's kill pushed the advantage to 24-11 and although the Bulls made a small run, Phillips' team was much too strong for the opposition in the game as GWU won 30-19.
For her solid play this weekend, Matykowski earned all-tournament team honors.
"We were able to get back in the swing of things," Phillips said. "We played well in games one and two, and we came back in game four and did a pretty good job.
"We learned a good lesson this weekend," Phillips said. "If we are out of sync, we can be in trouble. We watched some film and were able to fix some mistakes. We will have to step up our defense and be consistent in what we're doing in order to be successful in the Atlantic Sun Conference."
The Bulldogs open the A-Sun slate with newcomer Florida Gulf Coast Sept. 21 at 7 p.m., in Fort Myers, Fla.
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