GWU Volleyball Takes One Set in 3-1 Loss at Charleston Southern
November 13, 2010 | Volleyball
Charleston, S.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team bounced back from a miserable second set 25-11 loss to take the third set 28-26 before ultimately falling in the fourth set 25-17 to the Charleston Southern Buccaneers in Charleston, S.C. on Friday night in Big South Conference play.
Gardner-Webb took a 3-0 lead in the first set on a Molly Rhyne kill and two Charleston Southern errors, yet the Buccaneers pillaged its way back into the set with a 3-0 run to tie the score up at 3-3 before a second Rhyne kill put GWU in front again at 4-3.
The two teams went back-and-forth and traded points over the next several possessions until a 5-0 run by the Buccaneers pushed the home team out in front by five at 19-14.
The deficit proved to be too much for the Runnin' Bulldogs to overcome in the first set, as GWU never got closer than four for the rest of the set in the 25-18 loss.
A slow start doomed the Runnin' Bulldogs in the second set, as Gardner-Webb fell behind 15-8 on back-to-back GWU errors to force head coach Chris Phillips to call a timeout.
The offensive fire power for GWU was not there to get the Runnin' Bulldogs back into the set, as GWU posted a .036 attack percentage as a team en route to a 25-11 set loss to the Buccaneers who took a 2-0 match lead with the win.
The Runnin' Bulldogs regrouped before the third set, in which Gardner-Webb posted a 62 percent sideout percentage for the game.
Gardner-Webb got off to a solid start in set three, running out to a 4-0 lead on a Charleston Southern error.
After the Buccaneers stormed back to take its first lead of the set at 11-10, Gardner-Webb refused to roll over and play dead, but rather battled Charleston Southern back-and-forth point for point over the next several rallies until a Rhyne kill and a Buccaneer attack error knotted the score up at 19-19.
Charleston Southern scored the next two points to force a GWU timeout and then held on to a two point lead at 23-21 when again GWU took its second and last timeout of the set.
Out of the timeout, Gardner-Webb responded with a 3-1 run, highlighted by kills from both Rhyne and fellow sophomore Melissa Richie, to tie the score up once more at 24-24.
The two squads then traded points until back-to-back Laura Wilcox kills finished the set off in favor of the Runnin' Bulldogs at 28-26 and forcing a fourth set.
Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern swapped the lead four times in the early going with Gardner-Webb bouncing back from a 7-5 deficit to retake the lead at 9-7 on two consecutive kills from Wilcox and a kill from Rhyne.
GWU held onto a slight 15-13 lead on a Lauren Evans kill when Charleston Southern's Kayla Klinger answered with three straight kills to push the Buccaneers back in front at 16-15.
After another kill from GWU's Evan's knotted the score back up at 16-16, a 3-0 run put the Buccaneers in front at 19-16 and forced Gardner-Webb to call a timeout.
The Runnin' Bulldogs picked up a kill from Rhyne out of the timeout, however, wouldn't score another point for the rest of the set, as Charleston Southern finished the set out with a 6-0 run to take the set 25-17 and the match 3-0.
Rhyne led the way with 13 kills and eight digs, while Evans had a team-high 12 digs to go along with nine kills. Wilcox had eight kills and six digs, while junior setter Evan Moffitt had 38 assists and eight digs for the four set match. Sophomore Dominique Bray posted 11 digs, while fellow classmate Melissa Richie had a team-high .429 attack percentage in the loss.
Charleston Southern had two players with double-digit kills in Klinger with 14 and Amanda Hill with 12 of her own. Hill led the way with 19 digs, while Klinger added 13 digs in the four set match.
Gardner-Webb (5-25, 0-15 Big South) will return to action tomorrow afternoon, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will take on Winthrop in Rock Hill, S.C. for its final regular season match of the season. The match is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
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| Box Score: Charleston Southern 3, Gardner-Webb 1 |
