Greyhounds Eliminate Gophers in Landmark Quarterfinals

Greyhounds Hit .375 in Second Set of Sweep

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Goucher, as the No. 6 seed in the Landmark Conference tournament, was forced to travel to Moravian in the quarterfinals. The Gophers fell to the favored Greyhounds in straight sets.

After opening the match with an 8-1 start, Moravian (27-7) never looked back in a 13-25, 15-25, 21-25 victory.

After falling in the first set, Goucher (9-24) stayed level through the first 12 points of the second set. The hosts broke that 6-6 tie by taking the next six points as part of a run that gave the Greyhounds 10 of 11 points. Despite fending off two set points, Goucher's comeback attempt came up short.

The efficient Greyhounds had 16 kills in each of the first two sets, with only ten total errors hitting .256 and .375 respectively.

In the final set, the Gophers once agained opened well, taking six leads before Moravian drew level at 8-8. Three consecutive points, however, put the No. 3 seed ahead for good. Even though the deficit reached seven at one point, Sarah Johnson (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) started a four-point rally with a kill as Goucher pulled within two. In the end, Moravian proved to be too much, however.

Megan Chalk (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park), who became the fourth player in program history with 1,000 kills on Saturday, led the team with nine digs and two aces today.

Johnson had 14 of the team's 17 assists.

With the win, the Greyhounds matched their school record for wins in a season (27) and will advance to the semifinals to attempt to avenge a loss to Catholic. Both semifinal matches and the title match will be held on the campus of top-seeded Juniata.