Milledgeville, Ga. – The Lander women’s volleyball team (9-3, 2-2 PBC) fell to Georgia College (7-2, 3-1 PBC) three sets to one on Tuesday night at the Centennial Center. The defeat marks the second consecutive loss for the Bearcats after winning winning five consecutive contests in previous outings.
Lander jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the first set behind two kills each from freshman Hannah Hritz and sophomore Reilly Kuenstler. However, Georgia College battled back to even the score at 18. Freshman Libby Bochniak carried the Bobcats down the stretch as the talented outside hitter recorded three kills to give Georgia College the 25-22 set victory.
Lander rebounded in the second set behind the dominant service ability of senior Kristin Martindale. The Bearcats tallied six straight points with Martindale back to serve which included two service aces by the Iowa native. Georgia College generated a surging comeback to minimize the Lander lead to 16-15, but the Bearcats were able to hold off the furious charge by the Bobcats winning 25-20 in the second.
Georgia College responded in the third set with a commanding run of its own. After seeing the score tied 4-4, Georgia College mounted an 11-3 run to give the Bobcats a 15-7 advantage. Lander committed a costly 12 attack errors as Georgia College won the third set 25-14.
In the fourth, Lander held the lead just once after garnering the set’s first point. Junior Taylor Svehla recorded five kills as the Bobcats clinched the match victory with a 25-21 match victory.
Hritz recorded a game-high 17 kills in the losing effort. Junior Sophia Perkins assisted on 32 points and sophomore Hannah McManus notched 28 digs.
Lander will be back in action on Saturday to take on Flagler at 2:00 p.m. inside Horne Arena.
