Road Woes Continue as the Lady Bulldogs Fall at PC in Five Sets
November 11, 2009 | Volleyball
Clinton, S.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team got off to a hot start on Tuesday night, taking the opening set 25-21 only to have Presbyterian College take three of the next four sets and defeat the Lady Bulldogs 3-2 in Clinton, S.C.
Gardner-Webb falls to 11-20 and 3-11 in the conference with the loss, while PC moves to 11-19 overall and 6-9 in the Big South with the win.
In the first set the Lady Bulldogs got a kill by senior middle blocker Jessica Clayton to take the lead at 5-4, a lead that the visitors would not relinquish for the rest of the set as GWU had an answer for every Presbyterian College run.
After the Clayton kill, the Lady Bulldogs went on an 11-7 run to pull out to a 16-11 lead on a Regina Feagin service ace, forcing the Lady Blue Hose to call a timeout.
Out of the timeout, PC battled back to cut the Gardner-Webb lead to three at 18-15 and force a Lady Bulldog timeout.
Gardner-Webb responded out of the timeout with a Carolina Solano kill and ended the 7-6 run with a kill by Clayton to take the first set 25-21 win and an early 1-0 match lead.
The second set proved to be a close game throughout, as neither team led by more than four points throughout the frame.
Gardner-Webb took a 6-5 lead on a PC attack error, only to have the Lady Blue Hose scored the next two points on back-to-back GWU errors to retake the lead at 7-6.
After PC took its largest lead of the set at 14-10, the Lady Bulldogs answered with a 5-1 surge to tie the score up at 15-15.
The Lady Bulldogs pulled out to its largest lead of the set at 21-18 on an Evan Moffitt service ace to force a PC timeout.
The timeout proved well for the Lady Blue Hose, as PC stormed back to tie the score up at 23-23 on a Lisa Shelley kill. PC finished out the 7-2 run by scoring the next two points to take the set 25-23 and tie the match score up at 1-1.
With the momentum having shifted in favor of the home team, the Lady Blue Hose stayed one step ahead of the Lady Bulldogs in the third set, holding the lead for the majority of the game.
Presbyterian College took a 14-13 lead on a GWU attack error and did not look back, holding off the Lady Bulldogs down the stretch to pick up the 25-21 win and take a 2-1 match advantage.
Yet the Lady Bulldogs bounced back in the fourth set, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead on a Melissa Richie kill.
After PC took the lead at 9-8 on a kill by Amanda Kettles, Gardner-Webb fought back with a 7-2 lead capped off by a Laura Wilcox kill to take a 15-11 lead.
The Lady Bulldogs ran out to a 20-14 lead on a PC attack error, only to have PC get hot late and storm back to cut the GWU lead to two at 22-20.
Gardner-Webb refused to give in, as freshmen Richie and Molly Rhyne picked up three kills down the stretch to give the Lady Bulldogs a 25-23 set victory and knot the match up at 2-2.
In the fifth and final set, the Lady Bulldogs erased two early deficits to take an 8-6 lead on a PC attack error.
Yet it was the Lady Blue Hose finished of the set with a 9-4 run, including scoring the final five points of the set to take the 15-10 set win and the 3-2 match victory.
Rhyne led way with a team-high 17 kills, while Wilcox and Clayton added 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Senior Brett Wilson recorded a match-high 16 digs, while Feagin dished out a match-high 47 assists. Richie was solid for the Lady Bulldogs, as the freshman had 11 digs and eight kills over the five-set match.
Shelley led the Lady Blue Hose with a match-high 21 kills, while Presley Mabrey added 15 kills of her own over the five-set match.
The Lady Bulldogs will host Winthrop University on Friday, November 13th, at 6 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena. Prior to the match Gardner-Webb will recognize its three seniors - Jessica Clayton, Regina Feagin and Brett Wilson. The match will be video streamed by the Big South Network and can be viewed by visiting www.bigsouthsports.com.
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| Box Score - Presbyterian College 3, Gardner-Webb 2 |
