WASHINGTON - The Field House on the campus of Gallaudet University came back to life here Wednesday night as a raucous and supportive crowd showed up to cheer on the Bison women's volleyball team in its home opener against University of Mary Washington. This was Gallaudet's first volleyball match in the Field House since Oct. 25, 2019, as Bison athletics didn't participate in the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crowd saw quite the match as the two teams battled for four sets but the Bison came up short, 3-1 (17-25, 21-25, 25-22, 20-25).

Gallaudet (5-8) started off slow against the red-hot Mary Washington (11-3) squad, winners of nine straight matches, and fell behind 0-2 as the Eagles took the first two sets, 25-17 and 25-21. 

The Bison hung tough in the third set and broke a 9-9 tie and took a 15-10 lead behind the service game of sophomores Sunita Schmidjorg (Austin, Texas) and setter Emma Giuntoli (Austin, Texas). GU increased its lead to 21-13 before Mary Washington scored nine straight points with Jordan Lyons serving to knot the match at 21. The Bison got a key sideout to regain the lead and scored four of the final five points to take the 25-22 set win. 

In the fourth set, the match was too close for comfort as both teams traded the lead until midway through the set. GU stayed within a point or two until the Eagles pulled away and went on a 13-4 run to take a 21-12 lead. The Bison didn't cave to the pressure as freshman Ashlene Etkie (Austin, Texas) came off the bench and provided a spark for the buff and blue as GU scored five straight points behind Etkie to cut the Eagles' lead to four, 23-19. UMW scored two of the final three points to win the set, 20-25, and take the match.

Sophomore opposite Emily Wright (Auburn, Calif.) led all hitters with 16 kills while senior Elina Rubinshteyn (Austin, Texas) added 14 kills. Senior Karita Lewis (Frederick, Md.) was the third Bison in double figures for kills with 10 to go with her 16 digs for the double-double. Giuntoli passed out 45 assists and made nine digs while three other Bison finished with double digit dig totals.

Mary Washington was led by a trio of hitters up front with 10 or more kills. Olivia Casey led the way with 12 kills and 18 digs.

BISON TRACKS

• Junior libero Mia Upchurch (Austin, Texas) led the Bison with 18 digs
• Etkie (10 digs) and Schmidjorg had two service aces each
• GU served up six aces in the loss
• Upfront the Bison made four blocks (one solo)
• The last Gallaudet athletic event in the Field House was a basketball doubleheader on Feb. 18, 2020, before the shutdown in March

UP NEXT
Gallaudet prepares to host the 14th annual Worthington Classic on Friday, Sept. 24. The Bison will welcome The Catholic University of America, DeSales University and Eastern University to the Field House. Play begins at 4 p.m. with Catholic vs. DeSales followed by the Bison vs. Eastern at 6 p.m. Four additional matches will be played on Saturday.