Runnin' Bulldogs Stun Liberty With a 3-0 Sweep On Senior Night
November 12, 2011 | Volleyball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team stunned the Liberty Lady Flames on Friday night, as the Runnin' Bulldogs swept the League leaders 25-15, 25-13 and 25-19 on "Senior Night" in Paul Porter Arena.
The win is the Runnin' Bulldogs first-ever win over the Lady Flames in volleyball action and its fifth conference win of the season, the most for a GWU team in a single-season since winning five as members of the Atlantic Sun in 2007.
With the win, Gardner-Webb improves to 10-18 overall and 5-8 in conference play, while the loss drops Liberty to 16-12 overall and 11-2 in Big South action.
Gardner-Webb came out of the gates on fire, as the Runnin' Bulldogs posted a .417 attack percentage in the opening set, never relinquishing the lead en route to the opening set win.
GWU ran out to a 6-0 lead on a kill by junior outside hitter Melissa Richie and then pushed its lead to eight at 13-5 on an Evan Moffitt service ace.
The Runnin' Bulldogs had an answer for every Liberty run and took advantage of 11 errors by the Lady Flames to push its lead to 10 at 23-13.
After a service error put the score at 23-14, GWU picked up a kill by senior Lauren Evans and then traded points to come away with the 25-15 first set win.
Gardner-Webb did not let up in the second set, as the Runnin' Bulldogs posted an attack percentage of .452 in the set to overcome an early deficit.
Liberty scored first on a Loren Thomas kill, yet the Runnin' Bulldogs answered with a 5-2 run to take a 5-3 lead on a Liberty service error.
After a Lady Flames service ace tied the score up at 9-9, Gardner-Webb came out of its timeout inspired, outscoring Liberty 9-6 to take an18-15 lead on back-to-back kills from sophomore middle blocker Tyler Cockrell.
Gardner-Webb looked to put the set away, however, Liberty stormed back to cut the lead to two at 23-21 on a Lillie Happle kill.
Yet a Laura Wilcox kill gave GWU set point at 24-21 and forced Liberty to call its second timeout of the game.
Liberty posted a kill by Erica Manor to cut the Runnin' Bulldog lead back to two at 24-22 and then took advantage of a GWU error to cut the lead to one, only to have Evans' put the set away for the home team with a kill, giving the Runnin' Bulldogs the 25-23 set win and a 2-0 match lead.
GWU head coach Leo Sayles squad fell behind early in the third set, yet rebounded back to take a 12-8 lead on a Carol Solano kill, forcing Liberty to call a timeout.
After back-to-back kills by Solano and Cockrell pushed the lead to six at 14-8, Liberty cut the GWU lead to three at 18-15 on another Happle kill.
Refusing to relinquish the lead, Gardner-Webb pushed its lead to five at 20-15 on two consecutive kills by Evans, forcing Liberty to call its second and final timeout.
Out of the timeout, Liberty cut the lead to two at 20-18, yet got no closer, as the Runnin' Bulldogs took advantage of two Lady Flame errors to finish the set out on top, 25-19, and take the match 3-0.
Solano recorded a team-high 13 kills for GWU, while Evans and Cockrell posted 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Freshman setter Heather Feldman dished out a match high 40 assists, while Moffitt tallied 15 digs and two aces.
Happle led the Lady Flames with a match high 14 kills, while libero Kelly Haseman tallied 14 digs in the loss.
Gardner-Webb (10-18, 5-8 Big South) will wrap up its 2011 regular season slate tomorrow evening, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will host the Radford Highlanders at 5 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena.
Liberty (16-12, 11-2 Big South) will remain on the road to do battle with the UNC Asheville Bulldogs at 7 p.m. on Saturday night in Asheville, N.C.
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| Box Score: Gardner-Webb 3, Liberty 0 |
