CARROLLTON, Ga. - Wolves fell to Tarleton State in five sets on Halloween in Carrollton. The next West Georgia home match is Thursday (Nov. 12) as the Wolves host Little Rock at 6 p.m. for Senior Night!
SET ONE: UWG would open with a 3-1 lead behind a Maddy Kirmer and Grace Blythe-Cornett kills. West Georgia would extend their lead 7-3 via two Brooke McCall kills and one from Melina Cetkovic. Tarleton would take the next four points off two wolf attack errors and two Texan kills, evening the score at seven a piece. The Wolves would get back on top from two Cornett kills and one from Cetkovic, 10-7 UWG. Tarleton would take the lead back for one point at 13-12 and then take a three-point lead thanks to a Breannah Peterson and LaNeah Lara kills bringing the score to 18-15 Texans. West Georgia would take back the lead 19-18 and not let go from there. West Georgia would take set one 25-19 after two Giorgia Mandotti service aces and a McCall kill.
SET TWO: The second set would be all West Georgia, not letting go of the lead once this set. Opening the set on a UWG 6-1 run courtesy of three Valiree Schmus kills and another from Cornett. Tarleton State would piece together a 3-1 run to answer the run, bringing the score to 7-4 UWG. The Wolves would then string together a 5-1 run via three Texan errors. Brooke McCall would add three more kills to her daily total to give West Georgia a 15-8 lead at the media break. Right out of the media break, Adriana Medrano would tally two service aces and a Texan error would raise UWG's lead to 18-8. Tarleton State would manage a 5-1 run to narrow the score 13-19 in UWG's favor. Grace-Blythe Cornett and Schmus put the Wolves back in control with kills at 20-13 and 21-13, but Tarleton scored three straight to make it 21-16. The Wolves closed it out with four of the last five points. Madison Frank's attack error made it 22-16, Schmus served an ace, and Brooke McCall put down a kill for 24-16, and UWG would take the second set 25-16
SET THREE: The Wolves fell behind 6-1 early, then scored four straight to get within 7-5 on a Valiree Schmus kill and three Texan errors. After Maddy Kirmer, Brooke McCall, and a Giorgia Mandotti ace got UWG back to 13-9, the Texans ran off five more to lead 18-9. The Wolves outscored Tarleton 8-7 the rest of the way. Five kills came off her sets, three of them from Grace-Blythe Cornett. Tarleton takes set three 25-17.
SET FOUR: McCall, Cetkovic and two McCall kills made it 5-1 UWG. Then Tarleton scored six straight to lead 7-5. The Wolves stayed within reach after a timeout at 10-6, getting kills from Schmus, Cetkovic, McCall, and Cornett to trail 15-12, but Tarleton answered every time. A UWG timeout at 19-14 led to a late 3-0 run on two Schmus aces and a Maddy Kirmer kill to make it 20-17. Tarleton closed with a Schmus service error and three straight McCall attack errors, and Madison Natori Rice-Locket put the set away, 25-18 Texans.
SET FIVE: Down 5-2 early. West Georgia would cut into the Texans lead via a Cornett and Van Veldhuizen kills to pull within one, 5-4. Tarleton would piece together a 3-0 run to go up 9-5. Tarleton State would take the fifth set 15-7.
Highlights: Grace-Blythe Cornett would lead West Georgia with 17 kills and responsible for 18 points, setting herself a new career high in both categories. Close behind was Brooke McCall with 15 and Valiree Schmus with 13. Giorgia Mandotti would record three service aces to move into 8th in UWG single-season history. Adriana Medrano made her first start of her college career.
West Georgia's next and last home match is Thursday (Nov. 12) where they will host Little Rock at 6 p.m. for Senior Day!
Tickets for Senior Day can be found here, and as always UWG students get into home matches for FREE with a valid UWG ID!
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