Sunday, September 6, 2015

Women's Volleyball: George Washington 3 Radford 1

Senior Maggie Skjelbred (#12) scored 18 points (14 kills)

From our friends at GW Athletics...

GW Volleyball Downs Radford for Third Straight Win, 3-1

Osuchukwu earns MVP honors as Colonials clinch GW Invite title

The George Washington volleyball team rallied from a 1-0 deficit to knock off Radford and clinch the GW Invitational title with a 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon at the Charles E. Smith Center. Set scores were 19-25, 31-29, 28-26, 25-18.

Junior Chidima Osuchukwu was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament after totaling 71 kills (5.46/set) and 16 blocks (five solo, 11 assists, 1.23/set) across 13 sets.

Junior Chidima Osuchukwu (#8) was named tournament MVP

Radford hit .289 (16k-6e-38a) in the first set while limiting the Colonials to a .061 (10k-8e-33a) attack percentage en route to a 25-19 victory. GW had moved out to a 6-2 lead but a 6-0 run by the Highlanders put them ahead 8-6 and they never trailed again.

The Colonials win their third in a row

GW responded to tie the match with a 31-29 win in the second set. The Colonials got out to a 3-1 lead before Radford scored six of the next seven points to pull ahead, 7-4. Later in the frame, the Highlanders extended their lead to four points at 21-17, but GW scored six straight points to pull ahead, 23-21. Radford battled back to knot the score at 25-25 and pulled ahead at 29-28 before a kill by Osuchukwu knotted the set at 29-29. The Colonials' defense forced an attack error to pull ahead by one and another kill by Osuchukwu clinched the set.

Chi Chi and Jordan plead their case...

GW opened the third set on an 8-2 run and appeared to be in control, but Radford would not go quietly and rallied to seize a two-point lead at 14-12. The Colonials responded with a run of their own, posting six consecutive points to build an 18-14 lead. GW kept the pressure on until set point at 24-18, but Radford stormed back on the strength of a 6-0 run to tie the frame at 24-24. The Highlanders were serving for the set after taking a one-point lead, but a kill by senior Maggie Skjelbred tied the score once again. An attack error put the Colonials on top and freshman Kelsey Clark clinched the frame as the Colonials took a 2-1 lead with a 28-26 win.

10 kills and 12 digs for freshman Kelsey Clark (#4)

GW committed just three attack errors in the decisive fourth set and led wire-to-wire en route to a 25-18 win to clinch the match.

Soph Christina Porada (#1) added 17 digs

Osuchukwu led all players with 22 kills and added six blocks (three solo, three assists).

Frosh Alexis Lete (#2) goes airborne

Skjelbred (14 kills) and Clark (10 kills) also finished with double-digit kills to pace the Colonials.

Great effort by frosh Hanna Justesen (#6)

Senior Jordan Timmer notched her 18th career double-double with 51 assists and 11 digs. She added five block assists.

Jordan Timmer (#18) led all players with 51 assists

Timmer and Clark were also named to the All-Tournament team for the Colonials. Timmer totaled 162 assists (11.57/set), 37 digs (2.84/set) and 13 blocks (two solo, 11 assists) with three double-doubles while Clark posted 37 kills (2.84/set), 30 digs (2.30/set) and two double-doubles.

Sophomore Aaliya Davidson (#11)

GW returns to action at the Kristen Dickmann Invitational at the United States Naval Academy next weekend. The Colonials will face host Navy on Friday before facing Maryland and Texas Tech on Saturday.

GW Invitational Final Standings:
GW 3-0
UC Davis 2-1
Princeton 1-2
Radford 0-3

All-Tournament Team:
Chidima Osuchukwu - GW (MVP)
Kaylin Squyres, UC Davis
Jordan Timmer, GW
Kelechi Ohiri, UC Davis
Allie Wegener, UC Davis
Kelsey Clark, GW
Megan Short, Radford

Click here for yesterday's box score.