CARROLLTON, Ga.- West Georgia closed out the UWG Volleyball Classic by facing the Mercer Bears in their final tournament match. West Georgia (4-4) fell to Mercer (3-6) in five full sets after defeating LSU-New Orleans in a three-set sweep and Gardner-Webb in four sets on Friday.
SET ONE: West Georgia showed up scoring the first three points to take an early 3-0 lead behind Georgia Mandotti serving. The Wolves would continue surging ahead, taking a 5-1 lead thanks to back-to-back kills from Brooke McCall. UWG built a 17-9 lead, forcing Mercer to call timeout after yet another Brooke McCall kill, her sixth of the set thus far. Mercer would go on a three-point run to tighten the score to 18-13 UWG, forcing UWG to call a timeout. After re-focusing during the timeout, UWG would go on to take the first set, 25-16. West Georgia hit an impressive .583 this set, the second highest hitting percentage in a set since transitioning to Division I.
SET TWO: The Wolves took another early lead nearly mirroring the first set, this time 4-0 UWG again behind libero Georgia Mandotti's two aces. Mercer swung their way back into things, helping the Bears take a 12-11 lead courtesy of Ipek Ulukutlu's two kills. The two clubs traded points until Grace Blythe-Cornett ace gave UWG the lead at 23-22. Valiree Schmus then blocked Mercer's Jasmine Carleton to close out the set for West Georgia, 25-22.
SET THREE: Mercer took a 5-0 lead to begin set three behind three UWG errors forcing West Georgia to burn an early timeout. West Georgia still could not find their rhythm in set three, falling behind 2-11.Gaining some momentum for UWG, they would fight their way back to make the score 8-15 courtesy of another Georgia Mandotti service ace, a Grace Blythe-Cornett and Maddy Kirmer Kill. West Georgia would go on and drop set three 25-15 to the Bears.
SET FOUR: Early in set four, the Wolves would string together a five-point rally to lead 7-4. The Bears would go on a five-point rally of their own gaining the lead back 10-7 forcing a West Georgia timeout. UWG would get back into their groove after a challenge went their way, making the score 9-12 Bears. The Wolves could not climb out of the deficit and dropped set four 25-15.
SET FIVE: With momentum on their side, Mercer opened the final set leading 7-3 thanks to two Brooklyn Palmer kills. With another challenge favoring the Wolves, an attack error by the Bears, and a Grace Blyth-Cornette kill UWG cut the lead to four down 9-6. West Georgia would drop the deciding set to the Bears 15-8.
Leading West Georgia in kills this match was Brooke McCall with 15 and Grace Blyth-Cornett with 12.
Catch West Georgia Volleyball next by traveling to UT-Martin to compete in the Skyhawk Classic, UWG will face Arkansas-Pine Bluff and UT Martin Friday (9/18) at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The next day the Wolves will have a re-match with UT-Martin, facing them again Saturday (9/19) at noon. Both matches against UT-Martin will be streamed on ESPN+ while the match versus Arkansas- Pine Bluff will not be streamed.
The next West Georgia home game is Sept. 26 where they are set to face Abeline Christian
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