PIKE CREEK, Del. - The Goldey-Beacom College volleyball team battled to the very end but suffered a 3-2 defeat against South Division foe Chestnut Hill College in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play at the Joseph West Jones Center on Thurs. night. The Lightning also held their annual Dig Pink event tonight to help raise money for the fight against breast cancer.
The visiting Griffins earned the victory in what was a wild roller-coaster ride of momentum that included scores of 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 8-25 and 15-11.
GBC (10-11, 5-7 CACC) falls back into fifth place with the loss tonight as Georgian Court University took sole possesion of fourth-place with a 3-0 win at USciences. Meanwhile, Chestnut Hill (10-14, 5-7 CACC) moves into a tie for fifth place with GBC with the win. The top four teams in the division earn a spot in the CACC Tournament.
Freshman outside hitter
Kadi McCoy (match-highs of 15 kills, four service aces, .308 hitting percentage, 18 digs) and senior middle hitter
Rebecca Stoffer (13 kills, 18 digs) led the way for the Lightning on both ends while junior setter
Monica Dempsey directed traffic with 42 assists and 15 digs. This marked the third match this season that Dempsey has had over 40 assists as well as her 13th double-double. Freshman outside hitter
Taylor Moyer also made her impact felt on this night with eight kills and a season-high eight blocks (three solo).
Chestnut Hill was led by Alex DePalma's double-double of 15 kills and 17 digs and Katie Schock's 11 kills and .276 hitting percentage. Schock was dominant down the stretch for the Griffins as she collected three kills on three swings in the fifth set to lead her team to victory.
In the first set, GBC turned a 7-5 deficit into an 11-7 advantage courtesy of a 6-0 run and forced a Chestnut Hill timeout. Later the Lightning led 14-10 courtesy of a McCoy kill, but they let the Griffins score five straight points to regain the lead, 15-14. The Lightning then ran off three straight points only to surrender the next five and fall behind, 20-17. Once again they rallied for three points to tie the score at 20, and they fought from behind twice more to knot the score at 21 and 22. Finally, Chestnut Hill closed out the set on a 3-0 run, culminating in a kill by Schock to win, 25-22 and take a 1-0 match lead.
The Lightning stormed out to an early 9-4 lead in set two as freshman
Emily Shustack landed a kill and Moyer and Dempsey teamed up for a block to highlight the run and force a Griffin timeout. GBC was unrelenting out of the timeout, scoring five of the next six points and forcing another CHC timeout. McCoy and Stoffer each had a kill in that Lightning surge. After the second timeout though, the Griffins regrouped to go on an 8-2 run and pull within 16-13. They would twice pull within a point, 23-22 and 24-23, but McCoy finished off the Lightning win with a kill for game-point, and the Lightning evened the match, 1-1.
The third set saw the Griffins race out to an early 9-2 lead and go up by as many as nine, 15-6. The Lightning regrouped and went on an 11-2 surge to force a 17-17 deadlock. McCoy had a kill and two service aces during the run. But with the score tied at 18, Chestnut Hill pulled away with a 6-1 run to take a 24-19 lead, and withstood a late Lightning rally to win, 25-22 and go up 2-1 in the match.
Yet another huge momentum shift occured as the Lightning scored the first nine points of the fourth set to take a commanding lead right from the get-go. Stoffer had two kills, Moyer had two blocks (one solo) and Dempsey had a service ace to help put the Lightning in front by a large margin early on. The Lightning barrage never ceased as they closed out the set on a 7-0 run, culminating in two Dempsey service aces to win the set in dominating fashion, 25-8 and force a fifth and decisive set.
The Lightning, who came into the match 1-3 in matches that went to five sets, looked to be in good shape as they scored the first two points of the set on a McCoy service ace and Dempsey kill. After CHC evened the score with two straight points, the Lightning took a 3-2 lead on a kill by Moyer. That would be their last lead of the set though as the Griffins scored three straight points to pull in front for good. Trailing 10-7, GBC rallied to tie the score at 10 after an assisted block by Moyer and Dempsey, and the Jones Center Dig Pink crowd was on its feet for the rest of the match. A Cassie Benson block put CHC up by one, but a Griffins attack error led to another tie, 11-11. From there, the Griffins scored the next four straight points to close out the set, 15-11 and win the match, 3-2.
Goldey-Beacom will go on the road Sat., Oct. 15 to face CACC foe Post University at 1 p.m.
