Photo credit: Josh Markowitz
By Matthew Brooks (@brooksie1219)
The George Washington University Volleyball team is coming off of a historic turnaround season. In 2022 they were selected to finish second to last in the Atlantic 10 in the preseason poll, but first year coach Katie Reifert led the squad to a 18-15 (11-7 A10) record which earned them 4th in the conference. They went on to lose to eventual A10 champion Loyola Chicago in the conference semifinals.
But not unlike the start of last year’s season where GW lost their first four, the newly named Revolutionaries’ 2023 campaign got off to a rocky start. They fell short in games against a pair of crosstown rivals this past weekend. Friday they played the Eagles of American University and were swept 3-0, and on Saturday they lost a much closer match against the Howard Bison 3-2.
The game against American started out with both squads taking some time to settle in. There were a total of 17 attack errors, eight of which came from GW, and four service errors, of which three belonged to the Revs, all in just the first set. Because both teams kept trading errors back and forth, neither team was able to pull away a lead larger than three, which GW held once at 5-2, and then American held at 18-15. While the first set didn’t come without its mistakes, a standout in GW’s lineup was graduate transfer Kelsey Watkins. Watkins made an impact right away at the middle blocker position, coming up with a huge block late in the first set to equalize the score at 22, and came up with the only two aces of the set. Despite the Revolutionaries coming as close as 24-24 with a kill from outside hitter Grace Wiczek, American came up with the last two points and took the set 26-24.
Set two was also a tight one which American ended up winning 25-21. GW was down 11-9, but with a couple of attack errors, a pair of kills from junior Brittany Myers, and a kill from freshman Haylee Brown, the Revs went on a nice 5 point run as sophomore libero Amina Robinson served. However, American went on a run of their own to make the score 18-15 in their favor. After trading kills back and forth, GW kept the set close but could never retake the lead.
After two sets of close volleyball, American came out firing on all cylinders in set number three. Neither team was able to string kills together during the first two sets, but American changed that in the third set, coming out on a 9-2 run to start, and never letting GW score more than twice in a row. GW lost the set with only 13 points on the board, and the match was retired at three sets to none.
The story against Howard was a much different one. Despite being on the road, many of GW’s loyal and rambunctious fans took the trek up to Shaw from Foggy Bottom to cheer on the Revolutionaries. The lineup introductions felt more like those at the Smith Center than a road game, and multiple chants of “Let’s go G-Dub” broke out, with minimal crowd action from the home team Bison.
GW had a great start defensively in the first set, keeping points alive and making good reads on the attackers, but struggled to finish points and string kills together. After Howard went up 11-7, GW’s offense couldn’t string together a run and they lost the set 25-21.
Set two of the match would mark the Revolutionaries’ first set win of the season. A series of good reads from GW on the Howard hitters led to four early attack errors from the Bison and an 8-3 lead for the Revs that Howard was never able to recover from. Late in the set Robinson came up with a spectacular dig that would lead to a nail-in-the-coffin kill from junior Salem Yohannes.
Sets three and four were when the offenses of both teams really started to heat up. Hard-hit kills from Yohannes, Wiczek, and sophomore middle blocker Sydney Stewart put GW on a nice 6-0 run early in set three, but GW had no answer for MEAC Rookie and Player of the Year Rya McKinnon who amassed five kills in set three. She ended the match with a game leading 27 kills. GW dropped the third set 25-16 but turned things around in set four by winning some longer rallies and four kills from Yohannes. GW took set four 25-21.
After being down two sets to one, hope was in the air to finish the revolutionary comeback, but McKinnon had other plans. She came up with a whopping six kills in the last set, and single-handedly put Howard up 4-1 early. They went on to take the set 15-10, which won them the match 3-2.
Robinson struggled to come up with some digs early in both games this weekend but would come into her own as she got settled. Veteran Outside hitter Salem Yohannes helped out the young libero by amassing 11 digs against American and 12 digs against Howard.
Another pair of sophomores, Maeve Loughran and Dilara Elmacioglu made big impacts this weekend at the setter position. Both of them were rock solid, ensuring there was always a strong setter in the game regardless of who was subbed out. Against American, Elmacioglu led the team with 19 assists, and Loughran supplemented with nine. On Saturday it was Loughran’s turn to shine, racking up 27 to Elmacioglu’s 16.
Senior right-side hitter Liv Womble is coming off of a historic season where she led the team with 358 kills and earned herself a spot on the All Atlantic 10 First Team, but she had a quiet start to the season this opening weekend. Across both games she only had 11 kills, five digs, and three blocks.
Womble and the Revs will look to bounce back next weekend during their three-game stand at the Eagle Invitational hosted by Georgia Southern. The Revolutionaries make their 2023 Smith Center debut during the DC showdown, which includes a doubleheader on Friday, September 8th against North Alabama and Old Dominion respectively, and a game the following day against Georgetown.
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