LAKEWOOD, N.J. (Oct. 29, 2022) - It was a celebratory atmosphere Saturday evening in Lakewood as Georgian Court Volleyball not only defeated Dominican three sets to one, but Head Coach Dan Sempkowski picked up career win number 200. Currently in his 11th season, Sempkowski has guided the Lions to four CACC Championships and two NCAA Regional appearances. 

How it Happened
• Georgian Court picked a good time for one of their best all-around games of the season. GCU hit .250 for the match while Dominican hit just .158.
• Dominican landed five more kills than the Lions, 51-46, but hit 11 more errors, 28-17. 
• Georgian Court also put back three times as many blocks, 10-3. They scored 11 service aces with five errors to the Chargers six aces and nine errors.
• Playing without libero Jana Borkovic, a number of Lions stepped up to fill the defensive void. Jessica Sprankle took over as the primary libero and Ava Venneri and Kylie Runyon played a bigger defensive role.
• Georgian Court led from the first point in set one and never trailed. They opened up a quick 5-1 lead getting two kills from Nylene Mateo and one more from Emma Gildea. Up three, 8-5, the duo of Chelsea Ross and Amiyah Woods blocked three straight Dominican attacks to open up an 11-5 lead and force a Dominican timeout.
• A Charger service ace got them to within two, 16-14, but that's as close as they got and GCU took over from there. They outscored the Chargers 9-2 the rest of the frame with Mateo's seventh kill clinching the set. The Lions picked up five blocks in the set as the Chargers were at a .000 hitting percentage.
• Set two played very close for much of the set. Georgian Court again scored the first point and never trailed, but there were six ties during the set. The Lions got up by as much as five, 8-3, but the Chargers slowly chipped away and eventually tied the set at 14-all. 
• The two teams went back-and-forth for 10 consecutive points. Tied at 18, Mateo put down three straight kills to give the Lions some breathing room and that started a 7-0 run to close the set 25-18 in favor of the Lions. GCU hit .355 with 14 kills and just three attack errors. 
• All the momentum was with the Lions who opened up set three taking a six point lead, 10-4. They held that lead but the Chargers methodically ate away at the lead until finally tying at 21-21 and taking their first lead, 22-21, following a service ace. Leading by one, 23-22, the Chargers hit back-to-back kills and stayed alive in the match with a 25-22 set three win.
• Dominican sensed the tides turning and carried that into set four where they took an early five point lead, 10-5. Still trailing by four, 14-10, Georgian Court went on a 5-1 run, helped out by a pair of service aces to tie the set at 15. 
• Deadlocked at 19, Alexa Houston gave the Lions their first lead, 20-19, with a service ace, the Lions fourth ace of the set. They closed the set on a 6-2 run to take the fourth set and the match, 25-21. 

Lion Stat Leaders
• Nylene Mateo scored 23 points with a match-high 20 kills. She also finished with six digs, two blocks and two service aces.
• Emma Gildea added seven kills and three blocks. She hit .600 for the match.
• Amiyah Woods put back seven blocks to go along with five kills.
• Iciar Zayas passed out 35 assists and had a double-double with 15 digs. She filled out the stat sheet adding three kills, three aces, and two blocks.
• Ava Venneri finished with 14 digs and four kills.
• Chelsea Ross picked up six kills and three blocks.
• Jessica Sprankle notched 11 digs and three service aces.
• Kylie Runyon helped out with eight digs.

For the Chargers
• Aaliyah Ellis led the team with 13 kills and hit .345.
• Alessandra Pantoja dished out a match-high 43 assists to go along with eight digs.
• Linda Armao Peng scooped out a match-best 24 digs.
• Emmalyn Lapier added 10 kills.
• Andreya Davis was in double-figures with 12 kills. 

News and Notes
• The victory is number 200 for Head Coach Dan Sempkowski who has a career record of 200-142.
• Emma Gildea surpassed 100 career kills.
• Amiyah Woods' seven blocks are the most by a Lion this season and a career high. 
• Ava Venneri hit career kill number 150. 
• Nylene Mateo is over 400 kills for the season, just the sixth Lion to ever reach that figure in a single-season.
• Jessica Sprankle moved to eighth all-time for a single-season with her 59th service ace.
• This was the Lions first time hitting better than .200 in a match in the last five matches.
• Georgian Court's 10 total blocks match a season-best.
• Dominican's .124 attack percentage was the fifth lowest by an opponent against GCU this season. 

Up Next
• Georgian Court has one final home match, Wednesday, November 2 at 6 p.m. against Goldey-Beacom. The Lions will honor their 2022 senior class prior to the match.