George Washington University

Sept. 1, 2007

Final Stats

RICHMOND, VA -- The George Washington volleyball team was swept by South Carolina, 30-20, 31-29, 30-20, Saturday afternoon at the VCU/Third Degree Sportswear Invitational at VCU's Alltel Pavilion. The loss dropped the Colonials to 2-4 on the season while the Gamecocks improved to 5-1.

Game one was competitive early with the score tied six times, the last coming at 11-11, before South Carolina pulled away behind the hitting of Ivana Kujundzic who had three straight kills during a 9-3 Gamecock run to give USC a 28-19 lead.

Game two was even tighter as the lead changed hands six times and included 11 ties. With the game knotted at 27-27, the Colonials benefitted from a pair of hitting errors by SC's Annie Thomas to go up 29-27. On the brink of victory, GW faltered by committing three errors sandwiched around a South Carolina kill to lose, 31-29.

Like the first two games, game three also was played close through the first 10 points and was tied at 10-10. GW then committed three straight hitting errors and called a timeout to regroup. The Gamecocks came out of the timeout and got two kills, one each from Megan Laughlin and Annie Thomas, to increase its lead to 15-10. The Colonials committed five more attack errors allowing the Gamecocks to put the match away, 30-20.

Janine Brown was the only Colonial with double-figure kills (14) and points (15). She added a team-high 16 digs for her sixth straight double-double to start the season. For only the second time this season, the Colonials were out-blocked. SC recorded eight total blocks to six for GW.

GW combined to hit a season-low .041 (30 kills - 25 errors -122 attempts) for the match compared to the Gamecocks' .222 (54-22-144). GW sophomore Katie Butz hit .231 with five kills and three block assists for 6.5 points.
GW senior setter Jess Buche, who had 28 assists and 10 digs against the Gamecocks, was named to the All-Tournament team.

The pairing was a rematch of the Colonials' last foray into the NCAA Tournament when they fell to South Carolina in three games on Dec. 1, 2000 at Lincoln, NE.

GW (2-4) next plays Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Baltimore, MD.

VCU/THIRD DEGREE SPORTSWEAR INVITATIONAL

Champion: Maryland (3-0)

Most Valuable Player: Katie Usher, Maryland

All-Tournament Team

Katie Usher, Maryland

Beth Gillming, Maryland

Mary Beth Brown, Maryland

Megan Laughlin, South Carolina

Dani Bedore, South Carolina

Jess Buche, George Washington

Kallie Corbin, Liberty

Laryssa Goncalves, VCU