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 Jojit Coronel and the Colonials had no answers for UMBC Friday. |
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Volleyball Dogged by Errors in Loss to Retrievers at West Virginia Classic
Sept. 19, 2008
MORGANTOWN, WV -- The GW Volleyball team recorded a total of 23 kills against UMBC Friday. Unfortunately, the Colonials also committed 27 attack errors which led to a -.037 team hitting percentage and a 3-0 sweep at the hands of the Retrievers. GW fell to UMBC by the scores, 25-11, 25-21, 25-17, in the first match of the West Virginia Classic Friday in Morgantown, WV.
Of the 12 Colonials who appeared in the match, only four had more kills than errors. Senior Jackie Yaniga had the most efficient night hitting .667 on a pair of kills in three swings while sophomore Katie Zulandt hit .400 on two kills in five attempts with no errors. Junior Katie Butz (3k-1e-9att) and freshman MacKenzie Knox (3k-2e-9att) were the only other Colonials to post a positive hitting percentage. Defensively, three Colonials reached double-figure digs led by Leah Hill's 14 and 10 each from Maggie Wright and Alyssa Valentine.
GW could not get its offense going in the first set and committed seven attack errors with just six kills in 37 attempts for a -.027 hitting percentage. The Retrievers raced out to a 15-3 lead and were never threatened en route to the 25-11 victory.
UMBC scored the first five points of the second set before a MacKenzie Knox kill put GW on the scoreboard. The Retrievers maintained a comfortable margin throughout most of the set. GW rallied to within three at 12-15 but could get no closer as UMBC hung on for the 25-21 triumph.
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The third set was the closest as GW took an early 3-1 lead but it was short-lived as UMBC wrested control of the set and again led by 3-5 points down the stretch before prevailing, 25-17. GW hit -.171 in the set with six kills cancelled out by 12 errors in 35 attempts.
UMBC (9-3) was led by Alyssa Lang's 14 points on 10 kills and 16 digs while Bridget Sheetz scored 8.5 points on six kills and five block assists without committing a hitting error.
The loss was the Colonials' first ever to the Retrievers in 17 meetings dating back to the 1977 season.
The last time a GW Volleyball team failed to combine for a positive team hitting percentage was nearly five years ago on Nov. 8, 2003 when the Colonials hit -.083 (31-33-140) at Dayton.
GW (5-3) has less than 24 hours to bounce back when it faces UNC-Greensboro Saturday at noon in the West Virginia Classic before facing the host Mountaineers at 8:00 Saturday night.
