LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph women's volleyball team hosted Guilford on Wednesday night at Giles Gymnasium in a key ODAC match. Randolph trailed 2-0 and came back to force a fifth set but fell in the end to the Quakers 3-2 (17-25, 23-25, 25-19, 29-27, 13-15). The WildCats' overall record falls to 6-10 and 0-5 in the ODAC.
Brooklyn Finnerty (Lynchburg, Va./Brookville) recorded her 1,000th career point on the night. She becomes the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
In the first set, the Quakers got out to a 10-3 lead but Randolph rallied to move to within two points at 10-8. Guilford then used a 9-2 run to break away and lead 19-10. The WildCats tried to cut into their deficit but fell short 25-17.
GC recorded the first three points of the second set to lead 3-0. Randolph edged its way in as it led by a point at 10-9. The Quakers went up 17-15 but the WildCats got kills by Kailee Turner (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville) and Kelsey Bowler (Fredericksburg, Va./Fredericksburg) to move ahead 18-17. Guilford briefly took the lead away until the set was tied at 20-all. GC would go on to edge out the WildCats 5-3 and claim the set 25-23.
In the third set, Randolph led 14-6 and looked to stay ahead. Guilford mounted a run to come back and tie the set at 16-16 and 17-17. After the second tie, the WildCats closed out with an 8-2 run to claim the frame 25-19.
The WildCats once again had a big lead on the Quakers in the fourth set, this time 15-7. The 'Cats were ahead 21-12 but Guilford would not go away easy as they closed to 23-21 and at 24-21, the Quakers evened up the set at 24-24. The teams would trade off points until the score stood at 27-27. Randolph tallied the last two points to win 29-27 and force a deciding fifth set.
Guilford got out in front 7-2 in the fifth set. Randolph closed to 9-7 and then fell behind 13-9. A short WildCat rally brought the score to 13-12 and then 14-13 but the Quakers notched the match's final point to claim the victory.
Jamie Galanis (Greenville, N.C./DH Conley) led the WildCats with 18 kills and had five block assists. Caroline Towle (Warrenton, Va./Fauquier) added 12 kills and led in digs with 24 and service aces with four. Bowler finished with 11 kills and nine digs. Finnerty had 10 kills, five digs, and three block assists. Turner had a second straight match of 40 assists with 46 and also had 11 digs. Abby Maldonado (High Point, N.C./Penn-Griffin SOTA) contributed 18 digs and Mackenzie Woodson (Norfolk, Va./Norfolk Collegiate) 13 digs.
Randolph ends its long homestand on Friday when it hosts Shenandoah. Match time is at 6:30 p.m.
