ROCK HILL, S.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team battled from behind to force a fifth set at Winthrop on Friday night in its Big South opener, eventually falling 3-2

Gardner-Webb got off to a dream start on Friday night, taking the first set 25-22 inside Winthrop Coliseum. Despite a pair of lopsided losses in the second and third sets, the Runnin' Bulldogs battled back to win 25-16 in the fourth, before coming up just a handful of points short of a win, falling 15-12 in the fifth

The Runnin' Bulldogs jumped out in front 6-1 and 15-9 early on Winthrop, with huge contributions from freshman outside hitter Haedyn Crumbley and redshirt junior outside hitter Serena Kohler. Kohler in particular helped set the tone, with five first set kills and two of GWU's first three points. Despite a rally that brought Winthrop back within one at 22-21, a huge kill from sophomore outside hitter Samia Sayd handed the Runnin' Bulldogs a 25-22 first set win and killed a comeback attempt.

The second set saw a 25-12 Winthrop win, before Winthrop went 2-1 in front in the match with a 25-17 win in the third. Gardner-Webb hit right back however with a dominant 25-16 fourth set victory. The Gardner-Webb fourth was kick-started and dominated individually by junior middle Milla Lugo who had back-to-back early kills, then four straight as part of a late 7-0 run by the Dawgs. That run took Gardner-Webb from up 16-15 to up 23-15, with one last point from Lugo, a service ace, wrapping things up and forcing the match to a fifth set.

In the fifth, the Runnin' Bulldogs and Eagles would ping pong points, before Winthrop got out in front just enough to swing the match its direction. Gardner-Webb led 6-5, and even battled back again to tie the final set at 8-8 with Crumbley's sixth kill of the night. From that 8-8 tie, Winthrop jumped back in front 12-9 and held on to win 15-12, despite the last of a team-high 12 kills for Sayd briefly bringing the Runnin' Bulldogs back within one before Winthrop closed.

LEADERS
Sayd finished with a team-high 12 kills and five block assists, while Kohler posted 11 and 10 digs for a double-double. Graduate libero Nalani McBride has now passed 800 career digs between Gardner-Webb and Temple after 28 on the night, while sophomore setter Olivia Lefebvre set a career-high with 30 assists. Lefebvre also added a kill and nine digs while Lugo led defensively with six block assists, four solo.

UP NEXT
Gardner-Webb returns to action next Friday night, October 3rd at Radford. First serve in the New River Valley is set for 6 pm.