Records Fall in Gardner-Webb's 3-1 Home Win Over Campbell
November 02, 2013 | Volleyball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - A number of Gardner-Webb Division I volleyball single season records fell on Friday night, as the Runnin' Bulldogs used a third set surge to blow past the Fighting Camels of Campbell 3-1 at "Pack the House Night" in Paul Porter Arena.
GWU defeated the Fighting Camels 22-25, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-15 to take the 3-1 match win.
Gardner-Webb as a team set a new GWU Division I single season record in overall wins with 15 and in conference wins with six, while sophomore libero Anna Pashkova's 28 digs increased her season total to 545 on the year, which is a new GWU DI single season record and surpassed the previous total of 541 set by Katie Matykowski back in 2007.
The win pushes Gardner-Webb to 15-12 overall and 6-3 in conference play, while the loss drops Campbell to 13-13 overall and 3-6 in the Big South.
"I am very proud of our fighting spirit tonight. Campbell came out with a very sound game-plan and executed well in the first set. They are an up and coming team and are well coached," stated head coach Leo Sayles. "Our girls kept their cool and responded well to the pressure. We had a wonderful, supportive crowd tonight, and I think our players fed off their energy early. Anna (Pashkova) and Erin (Anderson) were outstanding in the back row, and made some tremendous digs to give us the opportunity to score. Heather's (Feldman) distribution of the ball kept our offense clicking and Tyra's (Montour) blocking presence up front definitely affected the outcome. We will rest up tonight, and try to bounce back for a tough match tomorrow against a very good High Point team."
Leading the way for the home team on Friday night was freshman Brianna Starr and senior Emily Holte, who tallied 16 and 13 kills apiece, while senior Erin Anderson chipped in with 11 kills of her own in the win. Setter Heather Feldman, who passed out her 1,000th assist on the season on the night, tallied 41 assists, while middle blocker Tyra Montour was a beast at the net with five solo blocks and four block assists.
The duo of Alexis Hein and Jessica Groen led the way for the Fighting Camels, as Hein had a match-high 18 kills, while Groen added 14 kills of her own in the loss. Setter Heather Wilson dished out 36 set assists for Campbell, while five different players tallied double digit digs on the night.
In front of a packed house in Paul Porter Arena, the Runnin' Bulldogs started out with kills from both Starr and Holte to take a 4-2 lead to start the opening set, only to see a 4-0 run aided by two GWU errors push the Camels out in front by three at 10-7 and force a Runnin' Bulldog timeout.
Despite scoring right out of the timeout to cut the Campbell lead to two at 10-8, the Runnin' Bulldogs were unable to put together a series of consecutive points as the visitors from Buies Creek, N.C. continued to stay out in front of the home team.
Following a kill from Hein, which pushed Campbell's lead to six at 17-11, Gardner-Webb picked up a kill from Holte and a spike from Anderson four plays later to cut the lead back to three at 18-15 and force a CU timeout.
Gardner-Webb would hang around and cut the Campbell lead to one at 19-18 on a Camel attack error, but failed to put together back-to-back points for the remainder of the set before suffering a 25-22 first set loss.
The second set started much liked the first, as Campbell scored first to open up the frame only to see GWU post kills from Starr and senior Amanda Murphy, as well as three straight spikes from Holte, Anderson and Starr, push the home team out to a two point lead at 7-5.
The Runnin' Bulldogs would then us a 6-3 run, highlighted by two kills from Holte, to push its lead out to five at 13-8 and force Campbell to call its first timeout.
The timeout did not slow down the home team, as GWU took advantage of three Campbell errors and two kills from Anderson to take an 18-12 lead.
After a kill from Starr put GWU up by seven at 19-12, the Fighting Camels did just that, as CU fought its way back into the game with an 8-1 run, capped off with a second service ace from Groen during that stretch, to cut the Runnin' Bulldogs' lead to one at 20-19.
Down the stretch, however, it would be all GWU as Starr and Holte combined for three kills, while Anderson and Murphy posted a block on a Campbell attack to lead the home team to the 25-21 second set win and tie the match up at 1-1.
The third set surge by the Runnin' Bulldogs proved to be the difference maker in the match, as Gardner-Webb ran out to an 8-0 lead on kills from Starr and Holte.
Following a GWU attack error, which allowed Campbell to get on the scoreboard, the home team refused to slow down, as GWU picked up a kill from Montour to extend its lead back out to seven at 16-9.
However, Campbell would not throw up the white flag, as the Fighting Camels answered with a 5-1 run to cut the GWU lead back to three at 17-14 on a Jenny Tait kill.
Nevertheless, the Runnin' Bulldogs regrouped out of a timeout and scored the next five points to take a 22-14 lead, a lead that the home team refused to let slip away in the 25-20 third set win.
With the momentum clearly on the home team's side, the Runnin' Bulldogs looked to put the match away in the fourth set from the very start, as GWU took a 7-2 lead on a Starr kill and back-to-back Campbell errors.
Campbell was able to cut the GWU lead to two at 9-7 on back-to-back kills from Groen and Wilson, however, the Runnin' Bulldogs were too strong at the net for the Camels over the remainder of the frame.
Montour posted two solo blocks and two kills over the next several rallies to push GWU's lead to eight at 15-7 and then teamed up with Feldman to post yet another block on a Campbell attack two plays later to put the home team back in front by eight at 16-8.
The two teams would then trade points back-and-forth over the remainder of the set, until a kill from Anderson ended the set at 25-15 and the match at 3-1 in favor of the home standing Runnin' Bulldogs.
GWU posted 13 team blocks on the night compared to Campbell's five and also held a huge advantage in team attack percentage at .216 to .094.
Gardner-Webb (15-12, 6-3 Big South) will remain at home to host the High Point Panthers tomorrow evening at 5 p.m., while Campbell (13-13, 3-6 Big South) will stay on the road to take on UNC Asheville tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. in Asheville, N.C.
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| Box Score: Gardner-Webb 3, Campbell 1 |
