Volleyball: WVU Loses Heartbreaker to Rutgers
September 23, 2005 10:16 PM | General
September 23, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University volleyball team fell short in its bid to defeat Rutgers in its first BIG EAST match of the season by falling to the Scarlet Knights by the score of 2-3 (24-30, 27-30, 30-24, 30-21, 12-15) on Friday, Sept. 23, at the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers 10-4 (0-1) lost the first two games of the match before coming out of the 10 minute intermission with such intensity Rutgers could not match. Senior Julie Hockenson led West Virginia in the third game with a 1.000 hitting percentage and then going on to hit .467 in the fourth. She had a total of 15 kills.
"Julie played very well tonight and came through for us when we needed her," assistant coach Camille Gutierrez said. "She was a great leader and her hitting carried us in those games."
Seniors Kelly Mullins and Stephanie Zolna each had another double-double with Mullins having 17 kills and 12 digs and Zolna contributing 26 kills and 12 digs on the night.
Sophomore Kailee Goold had another double-double, controlling the offense with 53 assists and 23 digs. Junior Aurora Ebert-Santos led the defensive effort wtih 38 digs.
But Rutgers took advantage of some key Mountaineer mistakes and was able to win the fifth game to take the match.
"They really fought back in the third and fourth games, but in the 5th game we didn't follow our game plan and that hurt us," Gutierrez said.
The Mountaineers take on Villanova in their next match which will take place on Sunday, Sept. 25 at the WVU Coliseum.
"After tonight's experience, we're very aware of getting things done early," Gutierrez said. " I think they'll come out ready on Sunday and we look forward to playing Villanova."
