LAKEWOOD, NJ (Nov. 16, 2024) - Georgian Court Volleyball wrapped up their 2024 regular season campaign in grand fashion Saturday morning. Holding their annual Senior Day, the Lions sent their seniors out in style with a 3-0 sweep of Jefferson. The Lions won by set scores of 25-11, 25-20 and 29-27 to improve to 18-9 overall and finished at 14-2 in the CACC regular season.

How it Happened
• The Lions were dominant from the get-go. For a team that this season has started slow, the early morning start time didn't seem to bother GCU. They hit .337 for the match while Jefferson was at just .156, including a -.147 mark in set one.
• Georgian Court had a big advantage on the block, putting back nine to Jefferson's three.
• The Rams landed one more service aces, 6-5, but also hit four more errors, failing to put the ball in play on nine serves.
• The Lions defense dug out 44 Ram attacks to Jefferson's 39.
Set 1
• Georgian Court scored the first point of the match and never looked back. 
• Tied at six, GCU went on an 11-0 run starting off with a Ram service error and finishing on an Amari Morales service ace.
• Jefferson never regrouped and a block from Amiyah Woods and Iciar Zayas ended set one in favor of GCU, 25-11.
• The Rams hit 12 errors in the set while GCU landed nine kills and five blocks to one error.
Set 2
• The Lions got out big in set two, scoring six of the first seven points. Giorgia Cappelletti had two kills and an ace during the 6-1 start.
• Jefferson climbed back into the set and got to within one on a couple of occasions. 
• It was another service error that started a GCU run though. They went on a 7-4 spurt and reclaimed a four-point lead, 19-15.
• Jefferson never got any closer and it was Ava Venneri putting the set away with a kill.
Set 3
• The third and final set was a back-and-forth affair.
• The teams were trading points and no team had more than a two-point lead until Amiyah Woods landed a kill to make it 17-14.
• Georgian Court pulled ahead and looked like a sweep was on the way leading by six, 22-16.
• But Jefferson answered with an 8-1 run and took a lead at 24-23.
• The Rams held set-point three times, but Georgian Court didn't back down.
• Trailing 27-26, Nylene Mateo tied the set with a kill and Woods ended it with back-to-back kills to put the match away, 29-27.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Giorgia Cappelletti landed 10 kills and hit .333 with nine digs and there aces.
• Nylene Mateo was a kill away from a double-double with nine kills and 15 digs.
• Chelsea Ross scored 13.5 points with nine kills and six blocks.
• Iciar Zayas passed out 20 assists and Dayna Diaz chipped in 14.
• Carmen Rivera grabbed 10 digs.
• Martina Croce and Amiyah Woods each scored six kills.

For the Rams
• Emma McKenna had game-high 11 kills with five digs.
• Morgan Ritchie picked up eight digs and seven digs.
• Morgan Martin added seven kills.
• Caroline Bond passed out 24 assists.
• Cameron Johnson added 11 digs.

News and Notes
• Georgian Court takes the all-time lead in the series 22-21.
• Giorgia Cappelletti surpassed 600 career digs.
• Eleven home wins and 14 CACC wins are the most since the 2019 season.
• GCU finishes the season as the No. 1 overall seed in next week's CACC Tournament.
• Prior to the game, GCU honored their nine seniors with a special senior day ceremony. All nine seniors, Giorgia Cappelletti, Martina Croce, Dayna Diaz, Emma Gildea, Amari Morales, Chelsea Ross, Kylie Runyon, Ava Venneri and Amiyah Woods saw action. 
• Ava Venneri surpassed 200 sets played.

Up Next
• The Lions will play the quarterfinal round of the CACC Tournament Tuesday, Nov. 19. They'll take on either Felician or Dominican at 6 pm.