GW put its undefeated home record and a four-game winning streak on the line Tuesday night and lost in a three-game rout to Georgetown University at the Smith Center.
The Colonial women (5-3) fell behind early in all three games. Despite a few exciting spurts, GW head coach Susie Homan said she felt her team put forth a lackluster performance.
“This was our poorest performance to date,” Homan said. “But we expect to bounce back.”
Georgetown (7-2) controlled the tempo of the match and dominated GW at the net. Sophomore Kiran Gill and senior Melissa Tytko were almost error-free as they combined for 22 of the Hoyas’ 46 kills. The Colonial women had 23 kills in the match.
Georgetown’s offense also was led by freshman Yulia Vtyurina, sister of former GW star Svetlana Vtyurina. The older Vtyurina, an All-American who holds the NCAA record for most kills in a career (3,043), watched her younger sibling help overpower the Colonial women with 11 kills.
“I think she’ll excel,” Svetlana said of Yulia. “She’s only 17.”
GW was down 14-2 in the first game due in part to mental errors and poor first touches off Georgetown’s service game. Vtyurina and Gill took advantage of GW mistakes throughout the first game. Vtyurina said she was excited to play against her older sister’s school.
“I’ve waited for this for a long time,” said Yulia, smiling at Svetlana. “It was so exciting.”
GW sophomore Jill Levey continued her strong service attack late in the first game, but GW was too far behind and lost 15-7. GW stayed with Georgetown early in the second game, but with the score tied 3-3 the Hoyas ran off seven of the next eight points and maintained their lead from there, winning the second game 15-6.
Georgetown finished off GW by taking a 9-1 lead in the final game. The Hoyas controlled the game with an attack percentage of .545, hitting 15 kills and only 3 errors in 22 attempts.
Tytko played a strong third game and finished the match with an attack percentage of .625. Despite a few strong kills by sophomore Renee Arnold, team errors and sloppy play took GW right out of the game, as the Hoyas won 15-5.
GW opens Atlantic 10 Conference play Friday at Dayton University followed by a match Saturday night at Xavier. Its next home match is Wednesday night against Fordham.
