By Matthew Brooks (@brooksie1219)
GW (7-15, 4-7 A10) came to the Bronx to face the Fordham Rams (12-7, 5-6 A10) this weekend with hopes of finally securing their first road win of the season, but they couldn’t quite get it. They came close on Friday, losing 2-3 (19-25, 22-25, 29-27, 25-19, 15-19). After going down 2 sets early, they nearly rallied back for the reverse sweep but didn’t quite have a fifth set in them. On Saturday they started off competitively, but after dropping their first set they couldn’t recover and were swept 0-3 (24-26, 16-25, 23-25).
The first match saw two completely different GW teams. The first two sets were defined by a GW team that played some poor defense, and their offense was unable to keep Fordham on their toes. Fordham’s frontline caught onto GW’s quickly, tacking on four blocks in the first two sets and getting a piece of many of our attacks. Their backline was also solid. Graduate libero and team captain Mallory Lipski is one of the better liberos in the conference and made it tough to land any of GW’s deeper kills.
But after going down 0-2, GW was able to get things going. They cut down on the defensive mistakes, and started to figure out Fordham’s spots and get there. Sophomore liberos Amina Robinson and Penelope Hiepler led the backline effort, finishing with 16 and 15 digs respectively. Robinson left the match towards the end of the third set with an eye injury, which caused Heipler to dress in the libero jersey for the remaining two sets. Robinson recovered and was able to play in Saturday’s match.
Offensively, junior outside hitter Salem Yohannes was the focal point for the entirety of the match. She earned a new career high in kills with 26 and did it while efficiently hitting .350. Head Coach Katie Reifert attributed the stellar attacking performance to her aggression and willingness to step outside her comfort zone.
“She’s coming alive when we need her the most and also just doing different things. So she’s not going back to what’s comfortable… She’s keeping the defense on their toes and staying aggressive. You know, she’s always had that inside her. I think the aggression was just lacking earlier in the season.”
Sophomore setter Maeve Loughran notched 55 assists in the losing effort. Surpassing 50 assists is now a regular occurrence for her, as she continues to adapt really well to the 5-1 rotation. She’s also starting to become involved on the offense with some dumps, grabbing two each on Friday and Saturday. Her first on Friday was particularly impressive, it was the kind of play that fools every single person in the building.
Friday’s storybook ending came to a stop in the fifth set, where Fordham regained their footing. Their star outside hitter, senior Whitley Moody found her rhythm early on and GW just couldn’t get to her spots. After going down 7-2, senior right-side hitter Liv Womble led the Revs to a bit of a comeback, getting it as close as 12-9, but they couldn’t quite finish it, and Fordham came out on top.
After Friday’s match, Coach Reifert talked about how gaining defensive poise would lead to a better result in Saturday’s match.
“If we can bring some composure to our defense, I think [tomorrow] we’re going to have a much better day. And if our hitters can stay aggressive like they did, it’s going to be a different match. I’m excited, it’ll be fun.”
It was certainly a different match, but it wasn’t much fun for anyone with a GW allegiance.
The first set picked up right where Friday’s match left off, with some solid blocking, blackline defense, and aggressive hitting from both squads. Yohannes was on fire again, notching seven kills in set 1, and junior outside hitter Brittney Myers complimented her teammate’s effort with five of her own.
Freshman outside hitter Haylee Brown earned her first start of the season and converted 2 of her 6 attacks into kills, both in key moments for the Revs.
She’s carved out a nice role for herself in the rotation early on in her young collegiate career by embracing a secondary position of middle blocker position and bringing some offensive firepower to that position. Coach Reifert certainly sees her as someone who has a specialty role to contribute to this team now.
“We are looking to be more offensive in the middle position and she came up big for us today, able to do that for us. And so it’s nice to be able to go to her. She’s got some flexibility and some versatility there that we’ve been missing. And so I’m excited to see if we can open that up a little bit more going into this week. But yeah, the blocking, middle blocking is no easy task. And so the experience there is a little tough, but offensively, she’s definitely someone to pay attention to.”
Set one stayed close all the way through, with GW holding a one or two-point lead for a lot of it, but at 22-20, there was a questionable service fault called on Yohannes, which then led to a Moody kill for Fordham, causing Coach Reifert to use her final timeout. After falling to set point, a pair of Myers kills got GW back to a familiar spot for them 24-24, where they’ve historically had a lot of success. But despite their usual clutch factor that usually kicks in here, they weren’t able to finish it today. After a Liv Womble attack error, Fordham’s other main attacker, sophomore outside hitter Audrey Brown, got the better of the Rev’s defense and secured the first set for the Rams.
The second set was nothing short of a disaster for GW. The stats captures some of it: Eight attack errors, and a .167 hitting percentage don’t typically win teams sets. But the eye test also works on this one, it’s hard to go down 2-8 and then win a set, which is why GW took their first time out early. It’s even harder to win a set down 4-12, causing GW to burn their second timeout before they had even surpassed five points. It’s hard to say why they went down so dramatically against a team they had matched up so well within the six preceding sets, but much credit has to be given to the Fordham attack. They hit GW with a lot of fresh looks that clearly threw the defense off. GW’s sloppy attacking is also to blame, five of those first twelve Fordham points are thanks to GW attacks that went too deep.
GW headed into the third set faced with the same mountain to climb as they had the day before, but did not have another comeback in the tank to avoid the sweep. The defensive struggles continued in this set, where they couldn’t really get the block going and made some key mistakes on the backline. After GW gained a small lead early, Fordham controlled for most of the middle of the set. GW was down 13-17 at their second timeout, but they of course couldn’t let Fordham get comfortable.
A comeback effort led offensively with three kills by graduate outside hitter Grace Wiczek, got GW to 21-22, which forced a Fordham timeout. Myers was able to equalize at 23, but down 23-24, Fordham returned GW’s attack, and as soon as it went up to Moody, you knew that she was going to finish, and she did.
Coach Reifert is always encouraged about her team, win or loss, and Saturday was no different.
“We still have a lot of season left.” Reifert said. “ We have the whole second half of the conference left and it’s going to be a tough road to get to the A-10s. But that’s our goal, get to the A-10s and then it’s anybody’s game. This one, I hope, was going in another direction, but Fordham brought their best and they were tough to beat today.”
Losing both of these games puts GW in a tough spot at the halfway point in conference play. GW’s 4-7 conference record is good for eighth in the A10, sitting above only 2-9 George Mason and 1-10 Rhode Island. With only the top six teams making the A10 postseason in November, GW will need to win some games down the stretch, and those games do not get easier. They have three games on the road, one against George Mason and the other two against Saint Louis, who currently share GW’s 4-7 record. But their remaining home games are against the top two teams in the conference. This weekend the Revs face #16 Dayton, who are 11-0 in conference, haven’t lost since September 6th, and whose only 2 losses of the season came at the hands of #12 Marquette, and #2 Louisville. It will be an uphill battle, to say the least. The Revs also welcome a two-match series against VCU, who are 8-3 in A10 play, and who have only lost two of their road games yet this season.
Coach Reifert understands the challenge ahead, but she knows her squad is up to the task. She talked to me about the upcoming challenges right after Saturday’s loss.
“You know, we put ourselves in a little bit of a tough position. And now it’s time to decide what kind of team we want to be. Are we a team that is going to break through this adversity and, you know, really find our way to, you know, through a tough road to get our spot in the tournament? Or are we going to falter?”
She noted the player’s reaction to this weekend and how it was not lost upon them the importance of taking at least one of these games.
“I know right now I see a lot of determination in their eyes. They are not happy about this weekend. And they’re just looking for ways to show this conference that they’re better than this… It’ll be interesting to see. Tune in. We’ll see what happens.”
If you want to tune in, The Revs next match is at George Mason at 6:00 PM in a game that will not be broadcast. GW returns home for their series against Dayton this Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 2:00 PM in games that can be watched on ESPN+.
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