Gophers Go 2-1 in Weekend of Landmark Matches
Smith Slams 20 Kills in Thrilling Five-Set Win Over Greyhounds
October 4, 2009
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For Goucher, the first weekend of Landmark
Conference matches began with a three-set loss to the two-time
defending champions. But head coach Michael Bossom's Gophers
rebounded to defeat Merchant Marine, 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 28-26), in
their second match on Saturday and then came back from being down
two sets to register a thrilling 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 26-24, 25-20,
15-8) victory over Moravian this afternoon.
Against Moravian (11-11, 2-1 Landmark), the Gophers not only
dropped the first two games, but they also trailed 22-16 in the
third set following a run of eight consecutive points by the
Greyhounds. Kills from the back row by Megan Smith
(Honolulu, Hawaii/Long Beach Polytechnic) provided the
points that put Goucher ahead 23-22 and also created a 24-24 tie,
and then Moravian committed back-to-back hitting errors to conclude
the set.
The Gophers (10-9, 2-1 Landmark) also had to overcome a 15-10
deficit in the fourth game, but went ahead for good on a kill by
Ashley Fan (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) that
snapped a 16-16 tie.
Smith contributed team-high totals of 20 kills and 24 digs to the
Moravian match. Fan and Rebecca Schaefer (River Edge,
N.J./River Dell) both finished with 20 digs and
Claire Sauvage-Mar (New Delhi, India/American Embassy
School) was credited with 41 assists.
Smith also had a double-double of 13 kills and 14 digs against the Mariners (8-6, 0-2 Landmark) in the other match the Gophers won over the weekend.
Goucher assumed leads of 4-1 and 5-2 over Juniata (13-2, 1-0 Landmark) in the opening game of Friday's match, but the Eagles, who were at No. 2 in the Division III national rankings, stormed back to prevail 25-17, 25-13, 25-19.
Collin Wallace turned in a 12-kill, 15-dig performance for the
Eagles, who recorded a .315 team hitting percentage.