Walker's stellar outing not enough in 5-set loss

Makena Walker had an outing against Olivet Nazarene that most attackers could only dream of. The junior from Louisville racked up 19 kills and hit an astounding .533, but the Tigers ultimately dropped a 5-setter to Olivet Nazarene. It marked the 8th time this season Georgetown has gone the distance in a match, with the team record now standing at 3-5 in such matches.

The Tigers were aggressive and accurate early with 13 kills and just 4 errors in the opening set. GC scored the 1st 3 points of the set, thanks to 2 Olivet errors and a service ace from Maria Tarazona. The first of Makena Walker's 19 kills pushed the Tiger edge to 5-1. Georgetown would ultimately never trail in the set. Olivet Nazarene closed to within 1 late, but Georgetown held strong Despite the opponent hitting .310, Georgetown kept at it and ultimately scratched out a 25-22 win.

A similar story brewed for a large portion of the 2nd set. Georgetown built an early lead and maintained it up to a 17-14 advantage. ONU scored the next 4 to take a 1-point lead, thanks to 3 Tiger attack errors. Georgetown responded with a 3-0 run to go up 20-18. ONU countered with 6 of the next 7 to take a 24-21 lead and force a GC timeout. The Tigers responded with 2 straight, but ONU finished the set with a 25-23 win to even the match.

Set 3 was a rollercoaster of a battle. It looked early like Georgetown would blow away ONU as the Tigers raced out to a massive 14-2 lead. ONU would not lie down as they delivered their own counterpunch with 9 straight points to get within 14-11. Georgetown briefly stemmed the tide with consecutive points to push the lead to 5, but ONU rattled off another 5 straight points to tie the set at 16. It was Georgetown's turn to take the momentum back with a 4-1 run to go up 20-17. The teams continued back-and-forth. ONU had 2 set points, but tough Tiger defending denied the close out. For Georgetown, the 5th set point proved to be the charm as Olivia Recktenwald found an opening and closed the set, 30-28, to the Tigers.

3 early aces in the 4th from Ines Marques gave the Tigers a 6-2 lead. The lead would remain steady up to a 16-13 Tiger edge. ONU called a timeout and out of it, they scored 4 straight to move ahead, 17-16. After back-to-back kills from Makena Walker and Gareth Bruce, ONU went on a 5-0 run to go up, 22-18, leading to a 25-21 win and the match going the distance.

The script got flipped on the Tigers in the 5th compared to the first 4 sets. There was no quick, early lead for the Tigers. In fact, Georgetown never had a lead or even a tie in the 5th as ONU scored the first 3. Georgetown got as close as an 11-10 deficit, but ONU rattled off the final 4 points for the 15-10 5th set win.

Along with 19 kills and a .534% from Makena Walker, Gareth Bruce ripped off 15 kills and Olivia Mitchell added 13. Viannie Kazan led the team with 26 assists. Reese Speed tallied 20 digs from her libero spot.