The Guilford College women's volleyball team took on Bob Jones University in an afternoon match that was electric until the very end. Lasting a full five sets, the Quakers fought for every point, winning 3-2.
Set one opened with exchanging the lead, even exchanging service errors back and forth, multiple times. Once tied at 12, Guilford went on three and four-point runs which was enough to secure a significant enough lead, with the Bruins unable to catch up. Guilford took the set 25-20.
As set two began, the Quakers tallied a small lead, 5-1. The Bruins caught up and went ahead. Though the two teams were close, GC fell short 25-22.
Guilford posted four-straight points to open the third set. The Quakers were ahead for the majority of the set, leading at one moment, 18-9. However, the Bruins, equally as motivated, went on a six-point streak plus a couple small runs, balancing the score at 20. Again, the Quakers got ahead 24-21 before letting the win slip as the Bruins tallied the last five points and claimed a 26-24 victory.
With a sense of urgency, Guilford was ready for set four. It began with the teams just trading points back and forth. Finally tied at 16, Guilford took control of the game, slowly inching ahead with small runs, ultimately ending with the final two points secured with kills from Chrisbel Alcantara.
Now, both teams were feeling the pressure, needing just 15 points to end set five. The Quakers and Bruins were neck and neck until the end. Bob Jones was almost always one point ahead of Guilford, but the Quakers responded with tying at almost every point. The end of the match had the whole crowd on their feet. The Quakers almost fell a couple of times but regardless did not think about giving up. With the help of a block from Vanessa Johnson, the Quakers finally inched ahead, secured the game point, and won the set and match, 17-15 and 3-2, respectively.
Natalie Moore led the offense with 27 kills with two aces as
Maddi Page tallied 51 assists. Defensively,
Vanessa Johnson finished with eight blocks while
Madison Bozarth totaled 22 digs.
Guilford is on the road to Lexington, Virginia on Friday, October 13 to face Washington and Lee University. The Conference match is set to start at 6:00 p.m.
