Lynchburg, Va. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team fell on the road on Saturday afternoon, losing to Liberty in straight sets 25-11, 25-20 and 25-10 in Big South Conference play in Lynchburg, Va.

Liberty posted 18 service aces compared to GWU's one, which proved to be a difference of 17 points over the three-set match.

In the first set, GWU started out slow only to battle its way back into the set, cutting Liberty's lead to two at 7-5 on a Lady Flames' error and forcing the home team to call its first timeout.

However, out of the timeout the home team responded with three straight points to push its lead to five at 10-5 before Gardner-Webb picked up a kill from junior Laura Wilcox to stop the Liberty run and kick off a 3-0 run by the Runnin Bulldogs to put the score at 10-8 in favor of Liberty.

GWU would struggle for the remainder of the set, scoring only three more points in the frame, two of which came off kills by freshman middle blocker Tyler Cockrell, as Liberty posted 11 kills and seven service aces for the set to take the 25-11 win.

The Runnin' Bulldogs got off to a strong start in the second set, running out to a 7-5 lead on a Wilcox kill only to have Liberty score the next five points and take the lead at 10-7 on three kills and two Lillie Happel service ace.

After a Gardner-Webb timeout, the Runnin' Bulldogs refused to go away, nipping away at the Lady Flames lead until two Molly Rhyne kills and a block by both Rhyne and junior setter Evan Moffitt put GWU in striking distance down by two at 18-16.

Out of a Liberty timeout, GWU's Cockrell picked up a kill to cut the Liberty lead to one at 18-17, however, the Lady Flames refused to relinquish the lead, outscoring Gardner-Webb 7-3 down the stretch of the set to down GWU 25-20 and take a 2-0 match advantage.

The momentum was clearly on the side of Liberty in the third set, as after GWU tied the score up at 1-1 to start the game, Liberty went on a 9-2 run to take a decisive 10-3 lead and force a Gardner-Webb timeout.

Liberty pushed its lead out to as large as 12 before scoring the final three points of the set to take a 25-10 set win and a 3-0 match victory.

Cockrell led the way for GWU with a team-high seven kills, while Wilcox added four kills, one ace and eight digs. Moffitt dished out 17 assists, while Rhyne collected five kills in the loss.

For Liberty, Karyl Bacon posted a match-high 10 kills, while fellow teammates Kendle Rollins and Happel recorded eight kills apiece for the three-set match.

Gardner-Webb (5-19, 0-9 Big South) returns to action next Tuesday night, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will travel to Clinton, S.C. to face off with the Blue Hose of Presbyterian Conference for a 5 p.m. Big South Conference showdown.

Liberty will hit the road to take on Charleston Southern on October 29th at 7 p.m.

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