For the past two seasons, the GW volleyball team has opened with streaks.

In 2003 it was 11 wins, and in 2004 it was seven losses. This year, coach Jojit Coronel’s squad opened up a losing streak of three games at the Georgia Tech Renaissance Invitational.

GW dropped three straight matches, winning only one game overall, to drop to 2-5 overall.

The Colonials have played four matches on the road this year and so far have not been able to collect a victory. Coronel said this is normal practice in college volleyball and should not affect his team.

“We’ve had the same schedule every year because there are only so many home tournaments around our area,” Coronel said in a phone interview Sunday. “We’ve tried playing on the road, and it’s what everybody else in the country does. We have to be playing some really good competition. Part of it is scheduling. Maybe our schedule is too tough. I think we need to play some tough teams to compete well in our conference.”

The Colonials will next face the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at the University of Cincinnati on Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. On Friday at noon, the Colonials will take on the host Bearcats before closing out with Jacksonville State on Friday at 5 p.m.

Going into Ohio, Coronel feels that the Colonials have only one main thing to work on.

“I think first and foremost what we have to work on is our ball control,” Coronel said. “Cincinnati just lost to UCLA in five (games) every match we play is a battle. Either we are ready for it or we’re not.”

Western Kentucky 3, GW 0

Senior Lindsay Vernand led GW with seven kills, while classmate Jessica Vesey added 11 digs as the Colonials lost in straight games (16-30, 19-30, 20-30) to Western Kentucky. Junior Juliene McLaughlin chipped in with six kills and three blocks. Sophomore Janine Brown could not build on last weekend’s success, registering just three kills, and a -.062 hitting percentage.

As a team, the Colonials hit .019 compared to Western Kentucky’s (6-1) .311. The Colonials picked up 22 errors as a team.

“In our first match, but our passing wasn’t very good,” Coronel said. “That slowly got better. We can see that with the attacking percentage. Versus Western Kentucky it wasn’t just our passing, it was everything. Every aspect of our game was down.”

Georgia Tech 3, GW 1

Vernand led the way for the Colonials with 12 kills on .524 hitting but could not bowl over Georgia Tech, the tournament’s host. In the 3-1 loss (30-28, 27-30, 22-30, 28-30), the Colonials had a balanced attack. Brown registered 11 kills and 13 digs while McLaughlin threw in 10 kills. Vesey had a match-high 19 digs.

After picking up game one, the Colonials were not able to contain Georgia Tech’s attack, as they improved their hitting percentage from .125 to .244 in game two.

The Yellow Jackets were led by Callie Miller’s 12 kills and while both Laura DeMichelis and Ulrike Stegmann registered 11 a piece.

Of the loss, Coronel said, “we played really well in every aspect and it came down to a few plays.”

Long Island 3, GW 0

The GW volleyball team started off the tournament on the wrong foot, losing to Long Island in straight games (27-30, 18-30, 25-30) at the Georgia Tech Renaissance Invitational.

Brown led the Colonials (2-3) with nine kills while junior Kelly Kabbes chipped in with five kills on a .444 hitting percentage. Vesey registered 11 digs while McLaughlin had seven kills.

The Colonials registered 10 service errors and only one ace in the loss.