Philadelphia, PA - The La Salle Explorers brought a four-match losing skid into Saturday night's match with the George Washington Colonials who came with a nine-match losing streak. With one team destined to snap its losing streak, the Colonials jumped out to an early lead and rolled to a 3-0 victory of the Explorers. La Salle slides to 8-19 overall and 1-8 in the Atlantic 10, while George Washington improves to 5-18 and 1-8.
In game one, La Salle was leading 5-3 before the Colonials went on a 12-0 run to take a 15-5 lead. The Explorers could not recover from the deficit, only managing to get to within six during the rest of the game.
Game two saw a much different La Salle team; the Explorers kept the game close, even taing a three point lead at 12-9, but the Colonials rallied and took the lead at 17-16. The two teams traded points, and eventually La Salle recaptured the lead at 27-26. After scoring the next point, the Colonials called a time out and scored the next two points to knot the score at 28-28. The teams again traded points and the Colonials squeaked out a 32-30 win.
After the intermission, the Explorers opened game three much as they did in game two. The teams were tied at 5-5, but George Washington ran off the next four points. La Salle called a time-out with the score 15-9 but it did not stop the Colonials from forging ahead and claiming the game and match by a score of 30-17.
Samantha Takacs (Columbus, OH/Bishop Watterson) led the Explorers for the second straight night, landing 15 kills on 38 attempts. Junior Abby Means (Stevens, PA/Cocalico) knocked down 10 kills to add to La Salle's offense. Setter Amanda Woods (Cincinnati, OH/McNicholas) assisted on 38 of the Explorers' 43 kills in the match.
On defense, libero Caitlin DeJong (Lansing, IL/Marian Catholic) led the Explorers in digs with 15, while Caitlin Conner (Willow Springs, IL/Lyons Township) tallied 10.
At the net, Kara Branz (Streator, IL/Streator Township) and Lauren Woods (Akron, OH/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) each posted a solo block for La Salle.
George Washington's Molly Law (Denver, CO/Mullen) led the Colonials with a team-high 14 kills, while Shannon Parks (Marietta, GA/George Walton) recorded 12 kills. setter Kaimana (Wailuku, HI/Seabury Hall) assisted on 37 of George Washington's 50 kills.
On defense, Law tallied a match-high 19 digs and Jessica Vesey (Poway, CA/Poway) added 17 in the Colonials win.
The La Salle volleyball team will close out a three-match home stand when they host the Delaware Blue Hens at Tom Gola Arena on election night, Tuesday, November 2nd at 7:00 p.m.
