GWU's Evans Tallies a Career-High 18 Kills in 3-2 Road Loss at Liberty on Saturday Afternoon
October 01, 2011 | Volleyball
Lynchburg, Va. - Gardner-Webb senior outside hitter Lauren Evans recorded a career-high 18 kills, as the Runnin' Bulldogs suffered its fifth straight loss on Saturday afternoon, falling to Liberty 3-2 (29-27, 17-25, 24-26, 25-13, 6-15) in Lynchburg, Va.
The loss drops Gardner-Webb to 4-13 on the year and 0-3 in the Big South, while the Lady Flames improved to 8-9 overall and 3-0 in Big South play with the win.
Looking to bounce back from a three set loss at Radford on Friday night, the Runnin' Bulldogs got off to a solid start in the opening set, taking a 4-0 lead on a Tyler Cockrell kill.
A kill by senior Laura Wilcox put the Runnin' Bulldogs up by five at 9-4, as GWU continued to capitalize on its scoring opportunities.
However, the Lady Flames were able to find its offense through Lillie Happel and battled back to take its first lead of the set at 13-12 on a Loren Thomas kill.
GWU was able to retake the lead at 15-14 on a Carol Solano kill, but for only a short time, as Liberty went on an 8-2 run over the next 10 rallies to pull ahead of the Runnin' Bulldogs by five at 22-17.
Out of a GWU timeout, the Runnin' Bulldogs were able to claw their way back into the set, including fending off three Liberty set points, to retake the lead at 25-24 on a Melissa Richie and Cockrell block.
The set would go back-and-forth, until Liberty took a 27-26 lead on a GWU error. Yet the Runnin' Bulldogs would not throw in the white flag, but rather scored the next three points - a Wilcox kill, a Richie kill and another Wilcox kill - to take the first set 29-27 win over the Lady Flames.
In the second set, the play went back-and-forth for the first several rallies, as a kill by Solano tied the score up at 3-3. However, the Lady Flames would then take the lead once more at 4-3 on a GWU error and would not look back, holding off the Runnin' Bulldogs for the remainder of the frame.
GWU tied the score up at 10-10 on a Liberty attack error, however, the Lady Flames would use a 15-7 scoring run to finish the set and pick up the 25-17 set win and tie the match up at 1-1.
With the match tied up 1-1, the Runnin' Bulldogs fell behind early to the Lady Flames 6-3 in the third set.
The Runnin' Bulldogs responded with a 10-2 run, highlighted by two Evans' kills, to push GWU in front at 13-8 midway through the third set.
Liberty slowly crept back into the set, outscoring the Runnin' Bulldogs 12-7 to tie the score up at 20-20 on a GWU attack error.
After another GWU attack error, pushed the Lady Flames back in front at 21-20, Gardner-Webb responded with back-to-back points to retake the lead at 22-21.
Back-to-back Liberty points pushed the Lady Flames in front at 23-22; yet again Gardner-Webb had an answer, scoring two consecutive points on kills from Solano and Richie to put Runnin' Bulldogs in front at 24-23.
With GWU holding set point, the Lady Flames finished the set out with three straight points, two of which came off kills from Happel, to give the home team the 26-24 set win and a 2-1 match lead.
With their backs against the wall in the fourth set, the Runnin' Bulldogs used a huge 12-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back service aces from senior libero Evan Moffitt, to pull away from Liberty with an 18-5 lead.
Liberty was able to cut the GWU lead to ten at 22-12, however, the momentum was clearly on the Runnin' Bulldogs side, as the visitors held on for the 25-13 set win and knotted the match up at 2-2.
The fifth and final set belonged to the home team, as Liberty ran out to a 5-1 run and forced a GWU timeout.
Out of the early timeout, Gardner-Webb picked up a kill from Cockrell, however, the Lady Flames continued to increase its lead, taking a 10-5 lead on a GWU service error.
The Runnin' Bulldogs seemed to run out of gas, as the Lady Flames outscored the Runnin' Bulldogs 5-1 down the stretch to take the 15-6 set win and the 3-2 match victory over Gardner-Webb.
The loss was GWU's sixth five-set loss on the season and 11th straight to the Lady Flames.
Evans led GWU with 18 kills to go along with her 10 digs, while freshman setter Heather Feldman also posted a double-double with 47 assists and 11 digs. Moffitt totaled 10 digs and four service aces, while Solano and Cockrell posted 13 and 10 kills, respectively.
For Liberty, Happel posted a match-high 22 kills and 13 digs, while Ansley Gebben posted 16 kills and two service aces.
"I'm proud of the team for bouncing back after a tough loss last night. Lauren Evans played outstanding and Melissa Richie did a solid job moving from defender back to the outside hitter position," stated head coach Leo Sayles. "Liberty played well in the fifth and we were not able to sustain the run we had in the fourth, but it was still a great match."
Gardner-Webb (4-13, 0-3 Big South) will return home to host the Winthrop Lady Eagles on October 7th at 7 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena.
Liberty (8-9, 3-0 Big South) will also return to action on October 7th, as the Lady Flames will hit the road to take on High Point at 7 p.m.
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| Box Score: Liberty 3, Gardner-Webb 2 |
