Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

VOLLEYBALL | GU Drops Midwest Matches to Xavier and Butler

ANNE STONECIPHER FOR THE HOYA
Junior middle blocker Symone Speech is currently first for the Hoyas and fifth in the Big East with 340 kills this season.

The Georgetown volleyball team fell to Xavier (10-17, 5-8 Big East) on Friday and Butler (19-6, 9-4 Big East) on Saturday as the team travelled to Cincinnati and Indianapolis for two intraconference matches.

Despite the pair of losses for the Blue and Gray, junior middle blocker Symone Speech was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Rol

l on Tuesday for her outstanding performance on the court. Over the course of the weekend, Speech hit .392 with an average of 4.50 kills and 1.12 blocks per set.

For their first match, the Hoyas ventured to Cincinnati where they faced off against the Musketeers, who were 8-17 going into the match.

The first set was tight almost the whole way through, with Georgetown and Xavier tied 14-14 following a Georgetown scoring run led by junior outside hitter Alyssa Sinnette. The Musketeers pulled away from there, however, and won the first set 25-19.

Xavier carried that momentum into the second and third sets, winning both by margins of seven and four, respectively. By the end of the match, Speech and Sinnette had each tallied 17 and 12 kills apiece, while junior libero Kenzie Higareda had an impressive 12 digs on defense.

Despite their difficulties, the Hoyas gained some insight into how they can get fired up for future matches.

“I think one of the biggest things with us is we are a very quiet team,” Head Coach Arlisa Williams said. “And what we’re learning is when we bring the energy and have good communication, then we play at a higher level.”

Georgetown soon got its chance to test out its newfound energy as it travelled to Indianapolis to compete against Butler University.

Throughout the competition, Speech and Sinnette both excelled on offense, with a respective 19 and 17 kills each. Freshman outside hitter Riley Wertzberger also demonstrated her hitting abilities, with a .216 kill percentage and 12 kills total.

The Bulldogs came out hot, and after two sets the Hoyas already found themselves down 2-0. But ignited by some huge blocks from its front row, Georgetown rallied back in the third and fourth sets to tie the match up 2-2.

In the fifth set, Butler regained the momentum and came out to what would become an insurmountable 8-2 lead. The Bulldogs won the fifth set 15-8 to conclude the match in their favor.

Coach Williams ascribed the meltdown in the fifth set to unforced errors on Georgetown’s side of the ball.

“In the fifth we started out slow and got into a hole early with some unforced errors, and so it was really hard to come back,” Williams said.

Georgetown hopes to bounce back from these two losses as they return to McDonough Arena next weekend to compete against St. John’s (13-15, 5-8 Big East) on Friday and Seton Hall (14-12, 8-5 Big East) on Saturday.

Both games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

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