Gopher Ground Seahawks In 5 Sets

ST. MARY'S COUNTY, Md. -  Goucher's women's volleyball team (5-15, Landmark 0-4) ran its record to 5 set matches to 2-0 today as they defeated the College of St Mary's, 3-2. 

After losing the first set that was filled with costly unforced errors, 23-25, Goucher rebounded in set number two by hitting smarter and serving more effectively. Two first years, Katie Hessenius (Aldie, Va) and Emily Sorrells (Annapolis, Md), went on 5 point service runs during the set. In the third set, a back and forth affair, it was sophomore Olivia Rhodes (St. Charles, MO) who went on a 4 point service run to put the Gophers up for good at 19-15. 

Goucher hit .380 as a team in the third set and St. Mary's had no answer, but it was the Gophers who were seeking answers in the fourth set as they fell to the Seahawks by a 19-25 score. The Seahawks win set the drama for the fifth and final set in the match. Goucher started off down 3-0 but tied it on a big block from first years Simone Brown (Pelham, NY) and Bianca Brown (North Brunswick, NJ).  Coss had back-to-back kills to put the Gophers ahead 8-6.  Weeden had two of her kills to put the Gophers up 12-10, and then a third to make it 13-11.

For the match, Goucher hit .270 and had more kills (56 to 53), digs (57-50) and blocks (12-1) than St. Mary's.  Goucher's setter, Olivia Rhodes, was consistent in allowing Goucher's two outside hitters, first-year Greta Coss (Bowie, Md.) and sophomore Sarah Weeden (Monmouth Junction, NJ) to finish with 24 and 23 kills respectively.  In addition to their kills, both Coss and Weeden had 14 digs apiece. Sophomore Virginia Estes (Homewood, AL) and first-year Katie Hessenius finished the match with 11 digs each.

Head Coach Kait Kozak was pleased by the team's play today. "We showed significant improvement after a tough loss to Lancaster Bible on Wednesday," said Kozak. She added "we played hard, and recovered quickly today.  It was our best mental game to date."

Set Scores:

Set 1: 23-25

Set 2: 25-20

Set 3: 25-20

Set 4: 19-25

Set 5: 15-13

Their next match is Tuesday, October 24^th at 7:00 pm in the Decker Sports and Recreation Center against Gallaudet University.