Gardner-Webb Volleyball Season Comes to An End on Thursday Night
November 18, 2010 | Volleyball
Rock Hill, S.C. - The No. 8 Gardner-Webb
volleyball team had its season come to an end on Thursday evening,
as the Runnin' Bulldogs fell to No. 1 Liberty 3-0 in the first
round of the 2010 Big South Volleyball Championship presented by
Musco Lighting, at the Winthrop Coliseum on the Campus of Winthrop
University.
The two teams' opened set one battling back and forth, with neither
team being able to go on a big run. With the score tied at 13-13,
an Erica Manor kill sparked a run that saw Liberty build its lead
to 17-13.
A kill by GWU's Laura Wilcox and an ace by fellow junior Lauren Evans cut the Lady Flames lead to two at 18-16.
However, Liberty's Jade Craycraft found the floor followed by
Lillie Happel with a cross-court slam that moved the score to
20-16. After a couple of errors by both squads, a Gardner-Webb net
foul sealed the 25-19 set one win for the Flames.
Liberty picked up the pace in the second half with two strong runs
to push its lead to 12-6. The Lady Flames tried to put the Runnin'
Bulldogs away but kills by All-Freshman Team selection Tyler
Cockrell and Evans kept Gardner-Webb within reach. However,
the Liberty offense and errors were costly for Gardner-Webb as a
ball hit out of bounds gave Liberty the 25-17 win.
In set three, Gardner-Webb kept it close with Lady Flames, as a
Wilcox kill knotted the match at 14-14. Both teams traded points
down the stretch and it was a Bacon kill with the score at 24-23
that put the match away for the Lady Flames.
Wilcox posted 10 kills for Gardner-Webb and Evans led the way on
the back row with 14 digs. Junior setter Evan
Moffitt finished the contest with 29 assists.
Bacon led the way offensively for Liberty with 10 kills in the match. Defensively, Kelly Haseman came up with 19 digs, while Jade Craycraft handed out 28 assists.
Gardner-Webb (5-27, 0-16 Big South) did not have the season that it would have liked, however, the Runnin' Bulldogs have no seniors on the squad this season and will look at this year as being one to grow in experience, but also to grow in playing together on the court as a team, looking to set new goals for next season.
QUOTES
Liberty Head Coach Shane Pinder
"I thought we passed the ball well and served well. We have a
young squad and once we got settled in we were able to execute our
game plan. I thought our middles were able to disrupt them and I
am proud of the team for advancing."
Gardner-Webb Head Coach Chris
Phillips
"I thought we played well. We stuck to our game plan and executed
well. We have a very young team and everyone is back next year.
We did a good job of keeping Bacon in check but the difference was
Loren Thomas."
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| Box Score: No. 1 Liberty 3, No. 8 Gardner-Webb 0 |
