Photo credit: Mitchell Layton
By Matthew Brooks (@brooksie1215)
With high expectations after last year’s turnaround season, 3-10 and 0-2 in A10 play is certainly not where anyone saw GW Volleyball entering year two of Head Coach Katie Reifert’s tenure. But the Revs delivered this weekend, winning both matches while only conceding one set of the seven they played.
Saturday saw GW’s first match sweep of the season, but it didn’t come without drama.
The opening set, which GW took 25-15, was all Revs from the start, and for URI it was nothing short of disastrous. Of their first four serves, three of them went straight into the net and the other went about ten feet out of bounds. The Rams also committed eight attack errors in the first set alone, and with only seven kills it led them to an abysmal -.038 hitting percentage.
Senior right side hitter Liv Womble finished the set with four kills, and GW came up with an impressive five service aces. Two of those would come from sophomore setter Maeve Loughran. Loughran would finish the match with 19 assists and a season high four service aces.
URI came out much more composed in set two, but they played even worse offensively hitting -.167 and only recording two team kills. Despite this, they managed to put up 21 points and at one point were actually leading 21-15. However, with sophomore libero Amina Robinson serving, GW went on a ten point run and took the set 25-21. This set it was MC Daubendiek who was the most productive on offense, tallying five kills, four of which came on that late run to win the set.
The real dramatics of this match came in the third and final set, which did not finish until 72 points were scored. This time both teams came out with their offenses in full force, recording 18 kills each in the long set. Liv Womble once again led the way with four kills after the 24th point. She finished the match with a team high 15 kills and an efficient .481 hitting percentage.
“I feel like that really gave us a lot of confidence going into [Sunday] and going into any further conference games because a sweep like 37-35 means we really put a lot of fight and effort into every single point.” Junior outside hitter Brittney Myers said. “And I just feel like that really gives us confidence going forward.”
Coach Reifert also touched on her team’s preparation for unorthodox situations, such as going uncommonly deep into a set.
“We do prepare for running out of subs and having to switch to a 5-1, because we do typically run a 6-2, so our players are used to playing in those roles.” Reifert said. “Demeanor-wise, we always talk about ‘siding out is priority’. Siding out, that’s what we put pride behind. And then every time we go back to serve is a bonus, you know. Can we get that bonus? Can we get hungry for a point off our serve?”
With the confidence from Saturday still fresh, and the newly named “Foghorns” pep band lining the Smith Center stands, GW was able to complete the series sweep with their 3-1 win on Sunday.
The only hiccup of the weekend came in the second set of this match, where URI won 25-20. URI went on a run early where they tallied 4 kills in a row, forcing a GW timeout. Then out of the timeout, 2 GW attack errors and a URI service ace caused the Rams to go up 14-6 early in the set, which the Revs were unable to come back from.
Other than that, GW played a clean match that was some of the best volleyball the team has played all year. Defense has been the biggest improvement point for this team, and Coach Reifert attributed much of this weekend’s defensive success to defending middles.
“We had a tough weekend last weekend against Davidson’s middles.” Reifert said. “So we worked a lot this week on our vision and working and seeing how to defend middles, so our middle blockers were ready for Rhode Island and did a really good job.”
She also talked about the team’s improvements in quickness, both in and out of system. “I think our out of system blocking, we’ve gotten cleaner there. And I think being really disciplined and early on our block so that our defenders actually have a place to read around, that was the biggest thing. I think for us before we were really late everywhere, so it was hard for our defenders to see.”
Sophomores Penelope Hiepler and Amina Robinson have been major factors to the teams improvements defensively. The two have both been tapped this season to split the key position of libero, while the other typically starts at middle back. When I asked coach Reifert about the libero position after the DC showdown, she reserved the right to change up who she was going to play there, while emphasizing how important both players are to the defensive scheme each match.
“It’s still preseason, so we’re still working things out.” Reifert said. “[Hiepler’s] doing a great job. I think Amina, in terms of the positional, the middle back position, she’s rocking it. So they both have their gifts as defenders. And I think right now they’re in really great places to showcase their gifts.”
Surely enough, Coach Reifert did change it up this weekend and went with Robinson, who had solid outings in both games, earning 29 digs playing in all seven sets this weekend. After this weekend’s matches, Coach Reifert reaffirmed that both players are a key part of every game, and noted that the libero jersey comes down to a tactical decision each match.
“They’re key to our defense right now, and they’re only getting stronger every weekend.” Reifert said. “I’m really proud of that. And yeah, I guess, you know, the libero jersey, it just depends on what the opponent calls for their different gifts. They’re very different players, but they both add a very special component to our defense. So it really depends on what opponent is coming up and who’s going to help us in that jersey.”
The offensive side has been stronger throughout the season. That being said, Liv Womble has begun to heat up and look more like she did in last year’s A-10 all-conference first team season. In Sunday’s match she earned herself 11 kills hitting an .458 and also tacked on four blocks. Additionally, the play from the setter position this year has been nearly perfect. On Sunday it was sophomore setter Dilara Elmacioglu who shined, racking up an impressive 25 assists which is her third best performance so far this season.
When recapping the weekend, both Coach Reifert and the players mirrored the theme of maturity when talking about the way that they played this weekend.
“Obviously our pre-season, we were working through a lot of things and I think my team has come out and showed a lot of maturity this weekend of playing good consistently through the whole weekend.” Reifert said. “Obviously we had some dips at times, but not as extreme as in the past, so I’m happy with that maturity.”
Graduate outside hitter Grace Wizcek echoed that sentiment of maturity regarding Saturday’s sweep. “I think just [Saturdays] performance was the culmination of all the work that we’ve been putting in to find that trust in our system. And I think to see those pieces finally come together and see that maturity from everyone on the team was really huge and why we were able to pull out that win.”
The Revs return to the Smith Center on Wednesday when they face crosstown rival George Mason. The match will be broadcasted live on ESPN+.
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