Carrollton, GA - In the final home match of the 2016 season, the West Georgia Wolves put up a fight against the Shorter Hawks, but in the end the Hawks powered past UWG with a 3-1 victory at The Coliseum Tuesday evening.
Hitting percentage played a big role in the contest on Tuesday, as each of the four sets and the scores within those sets were almost specifically created from how either the Wolves or the Hawks hit. For the match, Shorter hit .248 as a team as compared to the Wolves' .036.
In the opening set, the two teams kept the opposing hitting percentage down with solid defense on the back line. Both teams had 20 digs in the set, with Shorter delivering on 13 kills at a .195 hitting percentage and the Wolves had 12 with a .100 percentage. The Wolves stayed close to one of the top teams in the league this year, but an 11-3 run from the Hawks with the score tied at 10-10 put Shorter ahead for good. West Georgia fired back and made it close late, but the Hawks closed out the set with a 25-19 victory.
In the second set, Shorter was on fire with 14 kills in 30 attempts with just one error, hittting .433. West Georgia was on the opposite side of that spectrum, picking up just five kills in 35 attempts with nine errors, as the Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-8 victory.
The third set saw the West Georgia arms wake up, as the Wolves battled back from an early deficit to tie the set at 10-10. UWG then went on a 5-2 run that stretched into a 15-8 run to give the Wolves a 25-18 victory and force a fourth set.
Paige Berriochoa led West Georgia with three kills in the set and was tied for the team lead in digs with five along with
Devon Dickey.
Shorter jumped out to a 17-9 lead in the fourth set, then closed out the match with a 8-2 run to win by a 3-1 score. Berriochoa and
Lindsey Thomas led the Wolves with nine kills each, and Berriochoa led in digs with 14.
West Georgia will return to action on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m., taking on the Lee Flames in the final road trip of the season. The following Friday, West Georgia will play Union in Jackson, Tenn., followed by a matchup with Christian Brothers on Saturday, November 12 in the 2016 season finale.
