By Khush Wadhwa
GW Volleyball defeated A-10 second-place VCU this Saturday in an intense five-set contest. They split the home series against VCU following their four-set defeat on Halloween night.
The Revolutionaries entered Saturday’s match having lost four of their last five and with a 7-6 conference record. Two of their recent losses came against seventh-place Davidson, who have been struggling to win conference games, and another two at home against first-place Davidson, who are undefeated in the A-10.
VCU, currently second in the A-10, also would prove a tough opponent on the court. “Clearly, they’re a really strong team.” Head Coach Katie Reifert said, “But we can produce as well. We have a lot of firepower too.”
Photo by: GW Athletics
Revs outside hitter Alexis Rodriguez kicked off the match with a service blocked on the first rally by middle blocker Cianna Tejada. The opening points were typically brief, with the exception of a bullet-paced kill from opposite hitter Taylor Treahy which put GW up 5-3. GW built their first set lead up to four points after rallying off a free ball. The Revs would continue to take advantage of free balls throughout the match. “Our setter did an excellent job of spreading out the offense so all of our hitters were able to get their kills in different ways,” libero Amina Robinson said.
VCU would not go down without a fight, however, taking five points to level the set at 15 points apiece after a phenomenal run of serves from VCU outside hitter Kalina Pylinska. Both teams fought neck-and-neck for the set, with lengthier rallies. After Pylinska served out-of-bounds to level the score at 24, the Revs dropped two straight points and lost a challenge to drop the first set to VCU.
The second set opened with dominant play from the Revs. A series of longer rallies were effectively killed by GW, with VCU’s defense unable to keep points alive. GW jumped to a 14-8 lead before a rotation error cost them a point off a VCU challenge. “My front row players were actually out of rotation, so my assistant coach recognized that,” Reifert said. “But in doing so, he made my back players rove and my back-row players were actually in rotation.” VCU’s head coach spotted the violation and challenged, winning the point after a lengthy review. Ultimately, the violation had a minimal impact, with GW claiming a 25-16 set victory.
The third set featured another early rotation error against GW and a narrow VCU lead, but a well-timed cross-court hit from Tejada kept GW in the mix, down 8-10. VCU established an edge over GW, taking a 15-10 lead. Shortly thereafter, Reifert called a timeout to regroup the team. “We play games like that in practice a lot, where we’re down by five,” Reifert said. “I like to remind them, ‘hey, we’ve been here before in practice.’”
Coming out of the timeout, the Revs took advantage of two free balls and a net serve to tie the game at 16, then carrying their momentum further into a 10-1 scoring run. That run featured another rotation call, this time against VCU, garnering emphatic cheers from the Revs bench and crowd. With the score at 24-21, Tejada provided the final blow with a block to put the set away and shift the momentum towards GW.
The fourth set was opened by a net serve from Pylinska, who began to struggle against GW later into the game. “She definitely had an excellent serve,” Robinson said. “But it was awesome getting to spread the offense out and just lean on teamwork.” Despite the rough opening, VCU pulled away from GW towards the middle of the set thanks to some chaotic net play falling their way. Though the Revs remained competitive late into each rally, late tips and strong net play helped VCU force a winner-take-all fifth set.
GW opened strong with a combined block from Tejada and outside hitter Cayla Cogan. An out-of-bounds serve from Robinson brought the teams back on level terms before a VCU line error put the Revs in front again. Both teams continued to trade points, with a pair of free balls surrendered by either team bringing the score to 4-4.
Just before switching sides, VCU setter Elif Ozsoy dropped her set and GW took the next point to pull away 9-7. An ace from Rodriguez brought GW to 10-8, but VCU won the next point featuring chaotic net play. However, a GW challenge revealed that VCU’s attackers committed an attacking error, with a VCU attacker hitting the ball illegally, according to Reifert. From there, the Revs pulled away and never looked back. Middle blocker Sydney Hasenfratz came up with a powerful kill to win the set and match for GW 15-11.
The win takes the Revs to 8-6 in the conference and 15-11 on the season. They will play Saint Louis away next on November 7 at 7 p.m.
