Tigers drop regular season finale

After a strong 4-set win over Alice Lloyd earlier in the day, Georgetown played host Rio Grande in the 2nd match of Saturday to wrap-up the regular season. After splittling the first 2 sets, the Red Storm charged forward on its home court to take the final 2 and knock off the Tigers, 3-1.

In the opening set, the teams took turns with the lead in the early going. A tandem block from Maria Alves and Reagan Kupper tied the set at 7. Rio Grande then proceeded on a 6-1 run to take a 13-8 lead and force Georgetown into a timeout. The Tigers quickly answered the call with a kill from Ana Darr and back-to-back aces from Maria Tarazaona to get back within 2. Rio then rolled off 4 straight thanks to 2 kills and 2 Georgetown errors to re-establish control at 17-11. Georgetown then had its turn to apply the pressure. Gareth Bruce led the Tigers with 2 kills and an ace as part of a 6-2 run that forced the Red Storm to call for time with its lead cut to 19-17. The timeout proved perfect timing for the Red Storm as they came out and rolled off the final 6 points of the set for a 25-17 win, taking advantage of 3 Tiger errors in the run.

Set 2 was tight for most of play. A kill by Reagan Kupper tied the set at 14 after the teams had gone through 12 ties to that point. Georgetown's front line defense then took control as the trio of Kupper, Maria Alves and Makena Walker denied consecutive attacks from the Red Storm. A service ace from Marissa Taylor punctuated a run of 4 straight and forced the Red Storm into a timeout. Rio got 1 back, but 2 errors and a Faith Miller ace kept the Georgetown momentum going as Rio called its last timeout trailing 21-15. Maria Tarazona closed the set out with an ace as Georgetown leveled the match with a convincing 25-16 win.

Rio Grande came out aggressive to start the 3rd set and took a 4-0 lead. Georgetown countered with 4 of the next 5 to cut the deficit to 1 at 5-4. Rio delivered its counterpunch with 5 straight to take a 10-4 lead and force Georgetown into a timeout. The teams traded points midway through the set, but with Rio leading 18-11, the Red Storm got 2 more on the board. Georgetown called its last timeout down 20-11. The Tigers were unable to get back into the set as Rio closed out its best of the day with a 25-13 win. The Red Storm hit an impressive .387 in the set with 14 kills. Georgetown's offense struggled, hitting .000, with only 8 kills.

Knowing it needed a win in the 4th to extend the match, Georgetown came out swinging and scored 5 of the first 7 points. It gave Rio Grande a wake-up call as the Red Storm came surging back with a 12-2 run to take a stunning 14-7 lead over the Tigers. Georgetown got 2 back but Rio did the same to follow. Trailing 16-10, Georgetown then committed 3 straight attacking errors to fall behind by 9 and head to a timeout to regroup. The Tigers scored 4 of 6 out of the break to get within 21-14 but it was not enough as the Red Storm closed out the match with a 25-15 win in the 4th.

Gareth Bruce led the offense with 15 of the team's 31 kills in the match. She also tallied another double-double by adding 11 digs. Faith Miller and Viannie Kazan combined for 26 assists. Kazan also added 10 digs to match that of Reese Speed.