George Washington University

Nov. 14, 2010

Box Score

WASHINGTON, DC -- The George Washington volleyball team's season ended Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 loss to Xavier in the final match of the regular season. Xavier won by the scores, 25-11, 25-13, 26-24, at GW's Smith Center. It marked the final home match for three Colonials seniors, Hannah Stuart and co-captains Leah Hill and Katie Zulandt.

Sunday's loss was the eighth straight setback for the Colonials and, coupled with Fordham's victory over Temple and Charlotte's victory over Duquesne, the Rams and 49ers receive bids to the A-10 Tournament with 7-8 records while GW finishes in seventh place at 6-9. Only the top six teams qualify for the conference championship tournament, Nov. 19-21, at Xavier's Cintas Center. Charlotte passed GW in the standings on the final day of the regular season by virtue of its five-set victory at Duquesne.

GW came out flat Sunday and committed more errors than kills in each of the first two sets while the Musketeers romped to easy 25-11 and 25-13 blowouts. Following the 10-minute break between the second and third sets, GW came out strong and played with much more urgency in the third frame. The teams battled through five lead changes and nine ties, the last coming at 24-24. An attack error by GW followed by a kill from Xavier's Michelle Matia ended the match and the Colonials' season.

GW combined to hit -.017 on 30 kills in 117 attempts with 32 errors while Xavier hit .162 (29k-13e-99att). Individually, only three Colonials, seniors Leah Hill (.160), Hannah Stuart (.125) and sophomore Katie Crosby (.500), recorded positive hitting percentages on the afternoon. Four other Colonials made more attack errors than kills.

Hill's nine kills and 12 digs led the Colonials. Lauren Whyte had a match-high 10 kills but her 13 errors kept her hitting percentage in the red at -.091. Libero Candace Silva-Martin led the team with 13 digs.

Not sensing the energy from his team, GW coach Jojit Coronel pulled starting setter Katie Crosby and freshman Rachael Goss early on allowing back-up setter Hayley Woodford and Hill to get some quality experience. Stuart filled in admirably for injured starter Katie Zulandt but managed just two kills while assisting on three blocks. Zulandt, who leads the team in blocks and ranks second in points and kills, suffered a season-ending knee injury in GW's Nov. 7 match at Duquesne.

"I didn't feel the energy was there in the first two sets so we made some personnel changes and when Leah came in, the energy level and communication picked up," Coronel said.

While the Musketeers did not hit particularly well as a team, their blocking was superb. Xavier combined for 14 total blocks from six different players.

Xavier (19-8, 12-3) was led by Sarah Brown's eight kills for 13.5 points. Matia and Chelsea Campbell added 9.5 points each on six kills and both players assisted on seven blocks. Setter Claire Paszkiewicz assisted on 26 of the Musketeers' 29 blocks and Stephanie Vorherr led all players with 18 digs.

GW ends the season with a 17-15 overall record, 6-9 in the A-10. Hill ends her career with 1,277 career digs, ranking sixth on GW's all-time career digs list.