The volleyball team did not receive much affection from the City of Brotherly Love. Both La Salle and Temple swept the Colonials on their weekend road trip to Philadelphia. The pair of losses, combined with a defeat at the hands of Atlantic 10 newcomer Charlotte, followed a three-game winning streak for the Colonials (10-15, 3-8 A-10).

With four games left in the regular season, GW will travel to North Carolina to take on the Charlotte 49ers at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The Colonials are fourth in the A-10 East behind Temple, Charlotte, and Fordham, which will visit the Smith Center Sunday at noon.

La Salle 3, GW 0

The Colonials’ loss to La Salle (10-18, 1-10 A-10) on Saturday was the first time the Explorers had ever beaten GW in the teams’ 24 total volleyball matches since 1979. The win was also La Salle’s first A-10 victory of the season; the score was 30-25, 30-26, 30-24 in one hour, 34 minutes of play. Last year, the Colonials swept the Explorers at the Smith Center.

Senior middle blocker Abigail Hatter led the Colonials on offense with 13 kills, and hit .400 for the match. The team as a whole, however, hit only .088 compared with .206 for the Explorers. Junior outside hitter Juliene McLaughlin recorded a double-double with her 11 kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Janine Brown led the GW defense with 23 digs.

Freshman Jackie Kushman led LaSalle’s potent offense with her 18 kills and 18 digs in a double-double performance. Another freshman, Christa Dominick, registered 10 kills and one error to hit .333 on the night.

Temple 3, GW 0

Temple (16-9, 9-2 A-10) picked up its 15th straight win against GW last Friday, sweeping the Colonials for the second time this season. It only took Temple one hour, 29 minutes to put GW away by the score 30-23, 30-21, 30-21.

Senior outside hitter Lindsay Vernand contributed 12 kills to the GW offense and a hitting average of .333. McLaughlin gave a balanced contribution on offense and defense with nine kills and nine digs. The team’s assist leader, junior setter Kaimana Lee, had 29 assists during the match. The Colonials struggled with blocking, with Hatter registering GW’s only block in the match. The Owls took advantage of the weaknesses on the GW defense by hitting .465 with few errors on offense. Freshman Patricia Vernon led Temple with a hitting percentage of .706 and 13 kills with just one error.