Greensboro College Volleyball Falls to Roanoke; Bounces Back to Beat William Peace

The Greensboro College volleyball team came up short in a hard fought, five set match to Roanoke (25-23, 21-25, 24-26, 25-22, 15-11) on Sunday at the Greensboro College Invitational, but bounced back to knock off William Peace (25-18, 25-21, 14-25, 25-19).

In the opener, Roanoke won a hotly contested first set, scoring the final two points to pull away from a 23-23 tie. Greensboro rebounded in set two, holding a close wire-to-wire lead in a 25-21 win.

The Pride squeaked out another narrow win in the third set, 26-24, to go up 2-1 overall. In set number four, Greensboro was within a point at 23-22 late but could not close out the match, falling 25-22.

The Pride raced out to a 7-4 lead in the finale, but saw the Maroons go on a 6-1 run to take control. Roanoke held on from there for the 15-11 decision.

Liz Widenhouse paced the offensive attack with 27 kills on 64 attempts. Olivia Gough added 13 kills and Cortland Phillips served up 44 assists. Three Greensboro players reached double figures in digs with Danielle Simpson leading the way with 21. Phillips finished with 13 and Dallas Hasty had 12.

In set one against William Peace in the night cap, Greensboro led by as many as 13 en route to a 25-18 win. The Pride trailed for much of the second set but rallied with five straight points to earn a 25-21 victory to go up 2-0.

Set three saw Greensboro fall behind by as many as seven points early. The Pride briefly rallied but could not hang with the Pacers in a 25-14 setback.

It was all Greensboro in the third, as The Pride opened up a 19-10 lead and cruised home for a 25-19 win to clinch the match.

Widenhouse again led the team in kills with 14 while Morgan Hooks contributed 11. Phillips dished out 36 assists and Simpson picked up 17 digs.

For her efforts, Widenhouse was named to the All-Tournament Team. Joining her was Most Valuable Player Mackenzie Allen (Roanoke), Meredith Foscue (Guilford), Natali Rendon (Agnes Scott), Allison White (Roanoke) and Nicole Ciaramitar (William Peace).

The Pride are now 7-2 on the season. Greensboro will hit the road on Tuesday against Ferrum for a 7 p.m. USA South showdown.