Fourth-Seeded Gophers Eliminate Greyhounds

Program's First Victory in Conference Playoffs Since 1997

TOWSON, Md. — Playing in front of a raucous crowd of 272 in the Sports & Recreation Center, fourth-seeded Goucher knocked off Moravian, 3-0, tonight in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Landmark Conference postseason tournament. Set scores were 25-17, 25-23, 25-16.

It was Goucher volleyball program's first victory in a conference playoff since the Gophers defeated St. Mary's (Md.), 3-0 (15-5, 17-15, 15-2), in the quarterfinals of the 1997 Capital Athletic Conference tournament.

With the win, the Gophers (17-11) advance to the semifinals where Juniata, the tournament's No. 1 seed, awaits. Both semifinals and the championship match will take place Saturday in Huntingdon, Pa.

The Gophers never trailed in either the first or third set. They jumped out to a quick 11-1 lead in the opening game, which ended with a service error by the Greyhounds (15-18).

In the middle set, Moravian led by as many as four points before Megan Smith (Honolulu, Hawaii/Long Beach Polytechnic) and Catie Ditmore (Santa Barbara, Calif./Laguna Blanca) sparked a rally in which Goucher scored nine of the next 11 points to go ahead 24-21. Smith had three kills and Ditmore was credited with two kills and a pair of blocks during the run which provided the Gophers with three set points.

It wasn't until the third of those set points, however, that head coach Michael Bossom's squad earned its 25th point on a kill by Ashley Fan (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial).

It was all Goucher again at the outset of the third game as the Gophers held advantages of 8-2 and 14-7. The final two points of the match were secured by Carolyn Crissey (Philadelphia, Pa./Creative & Performing Arts) with kills.

Smith supplied the victorious Gophers with team-leading totals of 17 kills and 18 digs. Rebecca Schaefer (River Edge, N.J./River Dell) chipped in with 17 digs and Claire Sauvage-Mar (New Delhi, India/American Embassy School) came up with 16 digs and 31 assists.

For Moravian, Mary King finished with nine kills and a .364 hitting percentage.