Volleyball falls in 5-sets to Ohio Christian

Volleyball took on Ohio Christian at Davis-Reid Alumni Gym on Thursday night. The teams traded leads, momentum, and energy all night long, but it was OCU who came out on top. Georgetown had a 2-1 lead in the match but could not hold it as Ohio Christian rallied for a 15-8 win in the 5th set.

In the opening set, the teams split the first six points. Georgetown then made a move. 2 kills from Makena Walker were part of a 5-0 run to give the Tigers an 8-3 lead and forced Ohio Christian to take a timeout. The Trailblazers got back within 2 at 9-7 before Ana Darr took her turn leading a run. 2 kills from Darr and errors from OCU were part of 6 straight points that saw the GC lead swell to 15-7. The lead reached as high as 10 in the set before another Ana Darr kill punctuated a 25-17 opening win for the Tigers.

The early stages of the 2nd set were setting up in a simliar fashion to the first. With the 2nd tied at 5, Georgetown took advantage of more OCU errors to score 4 straight for the early 9-5 edge. Ohio Christian settled its offense down and began taking advantage of Georgetown errors to completely flip the set. The Trailblazers ended the set on a 20-8 run, including a run of 8 straight when the set was tied at 13. OCU won the set 25-17 to level the match.

The Trailblazers carried the momentum into the 3rd set by running off 8 of the first 11 points. With the deficit at 9-5, Georgetown Head Coach, Felicia Pace, called a timeout to refocus the team. The move worked as Giara Ferrari started a run of 6 unanswered to rocket Georgetown into an 11-9 lead. OCU countered with 5 of its own to retake momentum. With the OCU lead at 16-13, it was Georgetown's turn. Ana Darr and Constanca Rosas put 2 kills away. An ace and kill from Viannie Kazan and 2 kills from Gareth Bruce were all part of a 7-0 run to push Georgetown to a 20-16 lead. OCU fought back within 1 at 21-20, but Rosas put a stop to it. Ferrari put the brakes on the set with one final kill as Georgetown took the 3rd, 25-21.

With its collective back against the wall, Ohio Christian responded with control for most of the 4th set. Georgetown had leads of 1-0 and 6-5 and that was all. The Tigers proved their own worst enemy in the 4th set as they committed 14 errors, which halted any charge they tried to mount. Despite the flurry of errors, the Tigers' defending was still enough to keep the team within reach, but OCU took the set 25-19 to send the match to a 5th set.

Georgetown took 2 of the first 3 points of the 5th set but it would prove the only lead for the Tigers in the finale. Georgetown could not maintain serve against the Trailblazers for much of the set as OCU held a small lead throughout. With the OCU edge at 11-8, Georgetown ommitted 4 straight errors in dropping the set.

The match proved a tough offensive day for both sides. Ohio Christian hit just .035 on the night, while Georgetown was at .033. It gave the teams a lot of extended chances and rallies as the sides combined for 155 digs. Georgetown's Reese Speed had 31 of those on her own, while Gareth Bruce finished with 15. Giara Ferrari and Ana Darr had nice nights in the middle with 10 kills each. The setter duo of Viannie Kazan and Faith Miller finished with 22 and 19 assists respectively.

Georgetown now gets set for a run of 7 straight matches inside the Mid-South Conference starting on Tuesday night against Campbellsville. First serve is set for 7:00pm at Davis-Reid Alumni Gym.