George Washington University

Nov. 16, 2008

Final Stats

WASHINGTON, DC -- George Washington seniors Liz Moult, Maggie Wright and Jackie Yaniga all played a role in GW's 3-1 defeat of Temple on "Senior Day" Sunday at GW's Charles E. Smith Center. Moult was particularly effective with a team-high 17 kills as the Colonials won by the scores, 25-18, 29-27, 27-29, 25-22. The victory gave GW the A-10 East Division title and the No. 3 seed in the A-10 Championship Tournament next week in St. Louis.

It marked GW's 12th win in its last 14 outings as the Colonials ended the regular season with an 18-10 overall record, 9-4 in the A-10. The 18 victories are the most for GW in five years when it won 21 matches in the 2003 season. The nine A-10 victories are the most in eight years when GW won 14 league matches in 2000.

Following a prematch ceremony to honor three seniors making their final Smith Center appearances, GW took charge in the first set and hit .324 en route to the 25-18 victory. GW junior Katie Butz ended the set with one of her 15 kills on the afternoon. The second set was much tighter and featured 14 ties, the last coming at 27-27 before a Temple ball-handling error and an attack error by Temple's Yun Yi Zhang gave the set to the Colonials, 29-27.

The third set ended with the same score only with Temple coming out on top after a pair of kills by Zhang broke the 27-27 tie and sent the match to a fourth set. That set began with GW taking a 10-6 lead on an Owl attack error before Temple rallied to within a point at 15-14 on a GW ball-handling error. Following a Colonials' timeout, GW got a kill from Butz and managed to keep the Owls at arm's length the rest of the way although a pair of Temple service aces by Ariel Pierre provided some late drama. With GW sitting on match point at 24-20, Pierre served two aces to close within two. Butz then took a set from Alyssa Valentine and put the match away with a kills to give GW just its third victory over Temple in the last 10 years.

In addition to Moult's 18 points and .395 hitting percentage, Butz contributed 17 points on 15 kills while hitting .314 with three blocks. Wright led the Colonials with 13 digs in her final Smith Center appearance and Yaniga added a pair of service aces and eight digs in her Smith Center swan song.

Temple (15-13, 6-7 A-10) combined to hit .226 as a team led by Zhang's 27 points on 26 kills and 18 digs. Patricia Vernon added 16 points on 15 kills and two block assists. Setter Jackie Morrison assisted on 60 of Temple's 66 kills in the match.

GW (18-10, 9-4 A-10) earned the third seed in the A-10 Championship Tournament, Nov. 21-23, at St. Louis. The six teams that have clinched a berth are 1-Saint Louis, 2-Dayton, 3-GW, 4-Xavier, 5-Temple and 6-Fordham. The Colonials will face 6th-seeded Fordham Friday at 6:30 p.m. (EST). The winner would then face No. 20 Saint Louis Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (EST). The championship final is slated for 2:00 p.m. (EST) on Sunday.