McHenry, MD – Garrett College's women's volleyball team clinched its second consecutive winning Saturday afternoon by sweeping visiting Baltimore City Community College, 25-7, 25-8, and 25-13.
"It's nice to see us accomplish what I had set out as the vision for our program," said fourth-year head coach Brittany Jackson. "We've established ourselves as a competitive program."
GC improved to 9-6 by sweeping BCCC after dropping a four-set match earlier in the day against Howard Community College. The Dragons held off Garrett, 25-20, 25-23, 15-25, and 25-23, closing the fourth set with a 7-2 run to avoid a decisive fifth set.
"The Howard match definitely stung," acknowledged Jackson, whose team is now tied with Howard (10-7 overall) with an 8-6 Region 20 record as teams jockey for playoff positioning. "I was definitely expecting a fifth set."
Jackson credited Howard's strong effort.
"We didn't have as much energy as Howard did," said Jackson. "It took us a while to wake up and play."
Howard blew out to a 9-4 lead in the opening set. The Lady Lakers pulled within 16-15 on a Brenna L'Hommedieu kill, but a kill by Toriana Curry and an ace from Cheyenne Ellis sparked a 5-0 run that permitted Howard to regain control of the opening set.
GC raced to a 12-6 advantage in the second set, but the Dragons used a 10-3 surge to take a 16-15 lead. There were six ties down the stretch, the last coming on a kill by Lady Laker Cierra Shoop that created a 23-23 deadlock.
Howard claimed a 2-0 lead as Arianna Layne had a point-scoring tip over a double block and Zyon Austin put down a set-clinching kill.
GC dominated the third set, using a 7-2 run to break away from an early, 4-4 tie. Mia Barios, Emma McCord, and Shoop each had kills and L'Hommedieu contributed an ace in that early, set-defining surge.
The Lady Lakers appeared on the verge of forcing a fifth set, using a kill by McCord and a point-scoring block from Shoop as part of a 3-0 run that gave Garrett a 21-18 lead in Set 4. Howard responded with its match-deciding surge, which included key kills from Layne and Abigail Leis.
GC's Chloe Heeter finished with 23 assists, 13 digs and three aces against Howard. L'Hommedieu had a team-high nine kills while Barios (eight kills), McCord (seven kills, 12 digs), and Shoop (six kills, five block assists, three solo blocks) played key offensive roles.
After waiting out Howard's three-set sweep of Baltimore City, the Lady Lakers took on the Panthers. GC never trailed during the match, scoring the first seven points of the opening set and racing to a 10-0 lead in the second set.
The third set was closer as Jackson liberally used her bench. Reserves Audrey Harvey and Jamarri Silver each recorded aces while Katie Yoder played well on the front line.
"It was nice to give everyone an opportunity," said Jackson.
Heeter finished with 16 assists, three aces, and four digs against BCCC while Harvey had four assists to go with her ace. McCord had a match-high eight kills, with L'Hommedieu (seven kills) and Barios (six kills) also playing well up front.
Shoop had three aces and five kills, Paola Chirino contributed nine digs, Serenity Parker recorded four digs and three aces, and April Etheridge posted two kills.
The Lady Lakers finish the regular season with their "Sophomore Night" contest against visiting Potomac State College of West Virginia University at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 22nd.
PHOTO CUTLINE
Photo by Sawyer Hershey
Garrett College's Emma McCord (10) prepares for a kill attempt during the Lady Lakers' three-set women's volleyball sweep Saturday afternoon against Baltimore City Community College.
