Bruce, Oom lead Tigers to 1st 2024 win

After a tough 5-set loss to start the day against Trinity Christian, Georgetown showed true grit by bouncing back less than an hour later by beating Hannibal-LaGrange for the Tigers' 1st win of the young season.

After an early exchange of points in the 1st, Georgetown broke through with 4 straight to take an 7-4 lead, thanks in part to a serve ace from Matilde Oom and a kill from Gareth Bruce. Hannibal-LaGrange fought back and eventually took a 12-11 lead over Georgetown. Bruce put the Tigers back on top 14-12 with another one of her 17 kills on the afternoon. The back-and-forth continued until the set became tied at 18. A kill from Maria Alves and an ace from Faith Miller set Georgetown on a run that the opponent could not stop. The Tigers closed the set with 7 straight for a 25-18 win.

The set break proved huge for Hannibal-LaGrange as it came out on fire in the 2nd set and simply overwhelmed Georgetown. A 4-0 start set the tone for a set that the Tigers were never really close in. After the quick start, Georgetown never got back within 2 points the rest of the set. Hannibal-LaGrange did not commit a single attack error and hit .500 in the set for a huge 25-14 win to level the match.

Georgetown used the 3-minute set break to try to mentally erase the set and move forward. It proved to work early in the 3rd as Georgetown took 6 of the first 9 points to try to assume control. Hannibal-LaGrange scored the next 3 to tie the set at 6, which set off a series of quick serves and points that played out until the teams were tied again at 11. 2 errors from the opponent gave Georgetown the lead and sent the Tigers on a 6-1 run to take a 17-12 edge. Soon after, Ana Darr delivered consecutive kills for a 19-13 lead and forced Hannibal-LaGrange to call a timeout. The Tiger momentum proved just enough as the set neared its end. The lead got as close as 1 as 23-20, but Gareth Bruce delivered a kill and Reese Speed followed with an ace on set point to give the Tigers a 5-point win in the 3rd for a 2-1 match lead.

Hannibal-LaGrange took a 5-3 lead in the 4th and showed the determination to push the match to a 5th set. Georgetown had other ideas and ratched its defense up to a level not seen yet. The Tigers forced 6 attack errors in what became a 13-1 run led by the duo of Marissa Taylor and Gareth Bruce on serve. Before anyone knew what happened, Georgetown went from 5-3 down to a lead of 16-6. Hannibal-LaGrange got back within 18-10, but kills from Reagan Kupper, Gareth Bruce, and an ace from Cassidy Wilburn pushed the lead up to 11. The final surge then came from the opponent. Hannibal-LaGrange ripped off 5 quick points to get within 21-15. Head Coach Felicia Pace took no chances and used a timeout to get the Tigers refocused in the attempt to finish off the match. The move worked. Out of the timeout, Georgetown got 3 kills from Giara Ferrari, Ana Darr and Gareth Bruce for a 24-15 lead. One final defensive stop and another H-L attack error gave the Tigers the set, 25-15, and a 3-1 match win.

On this afternoon, Gareth Bruce proved too powerful to handle. She tallied 17 kills and hit an impressive .375 to go along with 4 assists and 8 digs. Matilde Oom showed her 2-way skills by finishing with 16 assists and 10 digs. She split time as the setter with Faith Miller, who ended the match with 20 assists.

The Tigers will take the week to recover and prepare for a road trip to Athens, TN to take on Tennessee Wesleyan on the final day of August. First serve is set for 3:30pm.