ROME, Ga. - The UWG volleyball team dropped a Friday night match on the road, falling 3-1 to in-state rival Shorter in Gulf South Conference play.
West Georgia (9-9, 2-4 GSC) dropped the opening set and won the second before Shorter (8-9, 3-2 GSC) won the third and fourth to claim a victory in the first of two matches between the two teams in a span of four days.
In the opening set, UWG hit just .034 and committed five attack errors. UWG led early, but an 8-0 Shorter run gave the Hawks the 13-6 lead, and they never looked back, winning the set 25-15.
The Wolves ramped it up the second set, hitting .353 and evening things up with a 25-19 victory. A 6-0 run midway through the set turned an 11-10 lead into a 17-0 lead and although Shorter got the deficit as close as three, UWG put them away to make it 1-1.
A heartbreaking third set turned out to be a big momentum shift in the match as UWG fell 26-24 after leading 24-23. Neither team led by more than three points the entire set, and back-to-back kills from Zoë LaBreche made it set point for the Wolves, but Shorter got a kill in between a pair of UWG errors to win the final three points of the set and take the 2-1 lead.
That took the wind out of the Wolves' sails as UWG fell down early and trailed by as much as nine in the set.
Emilee Harris led UWG in kills with 11 while LaBreche had nine and Caitlin Frazee chipped in with eight. Autumn Mayes had 21 assists to go with six kills and nine digs.Â
West Georgia is right back in action tomorrow in Cleveland, Tennessee, taking on the Lee Flames at 2 p.m.