Lady Bulldogs Throw A Block Party in 3-0 Win Over Davidson Friday Night
October 03, 2009 | Volleyball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team threw a block party on Friday night, recording a team total of eight blocks in the Lady Bulldogs 3-0 sweep over Davidson in non-conference volleyball action.
Gardner-Webb used both timely hitting and timely blocks to defeat
Davidson 25-17, 25-22 and 25-22 on Friday night, improving to 8-11
overall with the win.
From the first set on the Lady Bulldogs were on, as GWU jumped out to a huge 9-3 lead on back-to-back kills from middle blocker Laura Wilcox, forcing a Davidson timeout.
The Wildcats clawed their way back into the match with a 3-1 run,
however, the Lady Bulldogs refused to let its big lead slip away,
punishing both the Wildcats and the ball down the stretch, taking
the opening set 25-17 on a Regina Feagin service ace.
In the second set, the Lady Bulldogs kept rolling, running out to a
huge 12-3 lead on a Davidson service error. However, the Wildcats
would not go away, as Davidson answered with a 6-2 run to cut the
GWU lead to five at 14-9.
After a GWU timeout, the two teams traded points until back-to-back
kills by freshmen Carolina Solano and Melissa Richie gave the Lady
Bulldogs a 19-14 lead, forcing yet another Davidson timeout.
Davidson responded by cutting the GWU lead to two at 23-22 on a
kill by Madison Benedict followed by a GWU attack error, putting
the pressure back on the Lady Bulldogs.
The Lady Bulldogs responded with two straight points capped off by
an Evan Moffitt kill to take the second set 25-22 and a 2-0 match
advantage.
Gardner-Webb fell behind early in the third set and watched as the
Wildcats pull out to a 15-10 lead on a Sarabeth Peele service and
then pushed its lead to six at 18-12 on a Jorden Benedict ace,
forcing Coach Phillips' to call a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Lady Bulldogs awoke as a kill by Wilcox
jump started a 5-2 run, cutting the Davidson lead to two at
20-18.
Senior middle blocker Jessica Clayton came up huge on the next two
plays, picking up back-to-back blocks to knot the score up at
20-20. Yet the Wildcats answered with a kill by Madison Benedict
to retake the lead at 21-20.
Gardner-Webb refused to let the match go to the fourth set, as the
Lady Bulldogs ran off three straight points to pull out to a 23-21
lead.
After a Davidson kill cut the lead to one at 23-22, a Molly Rhyne kill and a Wildcat attack error ended the set at 25-22 and the match at 3-0 in favor of the Lady Bulldogs.
Gardner-Webb had a total team effort on the night, as five
different players had five or more kills on the night led by
Wilcox's match-high nine kills. Defensively, senior libero Brett
Wilson posted a match-high 11 digs, while Solano and Clayton
recorded a total of 5.5 half blocks combined for the match.
Davidson's Madison Benedict and Peele both had six kills apiece;
while Erin Lupter had a team-high seven kills in the three-set
loss.
The Lady Bulldogs will return to Big South Conference play tomorrow
afternoon, as Gardner-Webb will host the Lady Buccaneers of
Charleston Southern at 2 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena on the campus of
Gardner-Webb University.
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| Box Score: Gardner-Webb 3, Davidson 0 |
