CHARLESTON, S.C. – Facing off for the second time this season, Gardner-Webb avenged a September loss to Charleston Southern on Saturday afternoon, downing the Buccaneers in a thrilling five-set victory on the road, 3-2 (25-16, 26-24, 24-26, 22-25, 15-13).
The Runnin' Bulldogs won both of the opening two sets and forced a match point in set three, but Charleston So. countered the pressure and recovered to even the contest at two sets apiece to force a decisive fifth set.
However, after falling behind by a pair quickly in set five, 4-2, Gardner-Webb regained a groove when it needed it most, surging into the lead thanks to a timely 6-0 run to take a 7-4 edge. The Bucs managed to chip their way back into a tie at 10-10, but GWU fended off the final push from the home team to ultimately come out victorious, 15-13, with a winning kill from
Mikayla Logan.
With the win, the 'Dawgs improve to 6-16 overall, but more importantly 4-6 in the Big South, tied for fourth place in the conference standings with Charleston So. and Radford as the three teams battle for the fourth and final spot in the nearing Big South Tournament.
"Two five set matches in a weekend is tough, especially on back-to-back days. We really struggled to serve today, but we persevered. A lot of credit to Charleston Southern to capitalize on our serving struggles. It was a tight match from start to finish, and even though it wasn't our best, I'm always happy to come away with a win."
Logan paced Gardner-Webb with 14 kills on a strong .440 hitting percentage, while
Kylee Garrison notched her second double-double in as many days with 13 kills and 14 digs to go along with three blocks and three service aces.
McKenna Timmerman tallied 12 kills for the second night in a row as the offense took advantage of 41 assists from
Morgan Hornaday, and
Delaney McCullough followed up a seven-block outing on Friday night with another four on Saturday, tied for a team high with Hornaday.
Sophia Kotsovolos also made her impact felt with a career-high six service aces and a team-high 18 digs, while
Avery Cole tacked on seven kills to help GWU pile up a total of 54 on the night on .190 team hitting.
After splitting the weekend's action against two of the top four teams in the conference, Gardner-Webb will hit the road for one more as the Runnin' Bulldogs take on UNC Asheville on Thursday night, October 27, a squad that GWU swept in straight sets inside Paul Porter Arena back on October 1. Opening serve is slated for 6 p.m. with all the action streaming on ESPN+.
