GWU Volleyball's Winning Streak Snapped, as Winthrop Defeats 'Dogs 3-0
October 12, 2013 | Volleyball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team suffered its first loss at home in Paul Porter Arena of the season on Saturday afternoon, as the Runnin' Bulldogs suffered a 3-0 straight set loss to the Winthrop Lady Eagles in Big South Conference action.
Winthrop defeated GWU 25-18, 25-23 and 34-32 to complete the straight set win.
The loss, which snapped GWU's longest winning streak since the 2007 season at five-straight, and knocked the Runnin' Bulldogs to 11-11 overall and 3-2 in the Big South. With the win, Winthrop improves to 11-8 overall and 2-3 in the Big South.
The loss was also the Runnin' Bulldogs' first loss at home, dropping GWU to 5-1 overall in Paul Porter Arena on the season.
Gardner-Webb was led by the duo of Brianna Starr and Erin Anderson, as the two outside hitters recorded 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Libero Anna Pashkova, who Winthrop evaded for most of the afternoon, tallied a match-high 22 digs, while setter Heather Feldman dished out 39 set assists in the loss.
The Runnin' Bulldogs' tandem of Emily Holte and Tyra Montour totaled one solo block and 10 block assists in the three set match.
Irene Ojukwu and her match-high 17 kills led the Lady Eagles, while Alina Sopizhuk and Rachel Lenz chipped in with 16 and 11 kills apiece. Setter Jessie Vicic totaled 45 set assists, while both Ojukwu and libero Maria Volstad posted double digit digs at 14 and 13 overall.
The Runnin' Bulldogs came out flat and appeared to be both physically and mentally drained after its 3-2 five set win last night versus Presbyterian, yet erased an early two point Winthrop lead to tie the first set up at 5-5 on a Winthrop error.
Unable to take the lead, the Runnin' Bulldogs again erased a small Winthrop lead to tie the set up at 8-8, 9-9 and then again at 10-10, before a kill by Montour pushed the home team out in front by one at 11-10.
Winthrop would score the next three points to retake the lead, only to again see GWU retie the set up at 14-14 on another Winthrop error.
However, the back-and-forth trend continued as Winthrop ran out to an 18-15 lead on an Ojukwu kill and forced a GWU timeout.
After the timeout, the Runnin' Bulldogs picked up a kill from Starr, but was unable to stop the Winthrop momentum, as the Lady Eagles finished the set out on a 7-2 run to earn the 25-18 first set win.
Gardner-Webb took a 2-0 lead to start the second set, only to see its lead evaporate as the Lady Eagles took the lead at 6-5 on a Lenz kill.
Refusing to quit, GWU took advantage of three straight Winthrop errors and posted a Holte service ace to retake the lead by three at 9-6.
GWU was able to hold on to the slight lead over the next several rallies, yet the Lady Eagles posted two points to every one of the Runnin' Bulldogs' spots to tie the match up at 14-14 on a Sopizhuk kill.
After Winthrop retook the lead at 17-16, GWU came out of a timeout with a kill from Starr once again to retie the second set up at 17-17.
Winthrop would answer with a kill from Lenz and not look back, as the Lady Eagles held off GWU down the stretch to take the 25-23 second set win and a 2-0 match lead.
The third set proved to be a thriller as the two teams fought off a number of set points before Winthrop scored back-to-back points to escape with a 34-32 set win.
Winthrop flew out to an 8-3 lead to start the set and force a quick timeout by the home standing Runnin' Bulldogs.
GWU was able to go point for point with the Lady Eagles over the next 12 rallies to put the score at 14-9 and force a Winthrop timeout.
Following the timeout, Winthrop got a kill from Sopizhuk to push its lead out to six at 15-9, yet the fight of the Runnin' Bulldogs refused to go away, as the home team battled back to cut the Lady Eagles' lead to two at 18-16 on a kill from Montour and a Winthrop attack error.
GWU was able to cut the lead to two at 19-17, yet saw the Lady Eagles increase its lead back out to five at 23-18 on a Runnin' Bulldog error.
After a GWU service error gave the Lady Eagles match point at 24-20, GWU picked up four straight points, highlighted by kills from Holte and Starr and a service ace from Amanda Murphy, to tie the set up at 24-24.
The two teams would then trade points back-and-forth to fend off seven set and match points combined overall to put the score at 32-32 on a GWU error.
After another Sopizhuk kill pushed the Lady Eagles in front at 33-32, Winthrop finished the set and match off with a block from Lenz to escape with the 34-23 set win and the 3-0 match lead.
Gardner-Webb (11-11, 3-2 Big South) will step out of conference play one final time on Tuesday night, October 15th, to take on North Carolina A&T at 6:30 p.m. in Greensboro, N.C., while Winthrop (11-8, 2-3 Big South) will remain on the road to take on the High Point Panthers on Friday, October 18th, at 7 p.m. in High Point, N.C.
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| Box Score: Winthrop 3, Gardner-Webb 0 |
