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 Abby Syverson hit .472 with 18 kills Friday at Temple. |
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Volleyball Rallies, Grinds Out Rare Victory at Temple, 3-2
Oct. 17, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, PA -- The George Washington volleyball team summoned a Herculean effort to rally from two sets down and grind out a hard-fought victory over long-time nemesis Temple, 3-2, Friday evening at McGonigle Hall. The Colonials outlasted the Owls by the scores, 21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 29-27, 15-13, in a two-hour, 10-minute battle. It was the Colonials' first victory at McGonigle Hall in 14 meetings spanning 13 years.
It marked the fourth straight victory for the Colonials and second straight A-10 triumph. It also marked the second time this season that GW had lost the first two sets of a match only to win the next three straight having also turned the trick in the season-opener against American.
The match featured 33 ties and was only the second GW victory in the last 20 meetings with the Owls. The last time GW had beaten Temple at McGonigle was during the 1995 season when the current Colonials freshmen were in kindergarten.
Junior co-captain Abby Syverson paced the Colonials with her career-high 23 points. The Minnesota native was sharp hitting .472 on 18 kills in 36 swings while comitting just one attack error to go with five blocks. Sophomore Katie Zulandt also was efficient hitting .429 on eight kills in 14 attempts with just two errors and three block assists. Senior Liz Moult and junior Katie Butz each spiked 11 kills but both players also committed nearly as many errors. Freshman setter Alyssa Valentine assisted on 50 of GW's 62 kills (81 percent) and senior Maggie Wright contributed a team-high 20 digs.
Temple pulled away from a 12-12 tie in the first set and hung on for the 25-21 victory on a kill by Caitlin Loudon. The second set played out almost identically as the first with the teams again tied at 12-12 before the Owls took command with a 9-2 spurt aided by four Colonial miscues for the 21-14 advantage. TU eventually won the match, 25-19, on a GW attack error.
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Following the 10-minute intermission, GW came out with renewed focus and maintained a slim margin that never grew to more than five points. The Colonials' largest lead of the set was at 15-10 en route to the 25-22 victory. The fourth set was a classic nail-biter marked by no fewer than 13 ties, the last coming at 27-27 when a kill by Butz and an attack error by Temple's Jacqueline Cowden ended the dramatic set. The decisive fifth set saw the battle to a 4-4 tie before a pair of Zulandt kills and a Temple error gave GW a tenuous 7-5 lead. The teams tied the set at 10, 12 and 13 before an attack error by Yun Yi Zhang gave the Colonials match point at 14-13. GW sophomore Chelsea Cramer then served an ace to end the marathon.
For the match, Temple out-hit GW, .222 (56-22-153) to .171 (62-31-181) but the Colonials overcame their 31 attack errors to hold off the pesky Owls.
Temple (11-10, 4-4 A-10) was led by Yi Yun Zhang and Ashley Carr who combined for 31 of Temple's 56 kills while Zhang led all players with 21 digs.
GW (10-8, 3-3 A-10) has just 17 hours to recuperate before facing La Salle Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in LU's Tom Gola Arena. The GW-La Salle match will be available on www.GWsports.com GameTracker live stats.
