ORANGEBURG, NY (Oct. 25, 2025) - To win a volleyball match, you need to win three sets out of five by at least two points. Which means smallest margin of victory possible is just six points. That's what Georgian Court lost by Saturday at Dominican. The Lions fell in four sets, 3-1, with all three sets lost coming by just two points, and all three in extra-points.

How it Happened
• A look at the box score and noone would blame you if you thought Georgian Court was on the winning side. They led in most statistical categories, helped out by their 25-15 set three win.
• GCU scored 66 points to the Chargers 57. They landed more kills and hit fewer attack errors.
• Georgian Court doubled up Dominican on service aces, 10-5.
• Defensive numbers showed a slight advantage to Dominican in blocks, but the Lions were up in digs, 67-62.

Set 1
• Neither team hit above .100 in the opening frame.
• After failing to get out to a lead in any set last week against Wilmington, Georgian Court was ready to go from the first serve. The Lions scored the first five points of the match and eight of the first 10.
• The Lions extended their lead to 12-5, when Dominican started to inch closer. Helped out by a 4-0 run, they scored eight-of-10 and closed the game to just one, 14-13.
• Dominican briefly grabbed a 16-15 lead, but GCU seemed to settle down and a kill and block from Ziahna Frazer put the Lions back on top, 21-18.
• The Chargers rallied to tie, but GCU broke the tie and took leads at 22-21, 23-22, 24-23 and 25-24. They couldn't put the Chargers away though and Dominican scored three straight to end it and take set one, 27-25.
Set 2
• The second set was close the entire way. It featured 18 ties and 10 lead changes and neither team ever led by more than two points. 
• Trailing by two, 15-13, GCU flipped the script with four straight for a two-point lead of their own, 17-15. Amber Gallo hit a pair of service aces during the run.
• Now tied at 22, Dominican reached set point with a kill and a service ace. GCU rallied to tie getting a Genesis Simanca kill and a Charger attack error.
• Tied again at 24, the Chargers got a kill for the lead and a Lion miscue gave Dominican a 2-0 match lead as they took set two, 26-24.
Set 3
• After two excruciatingly close sets, set three was never really in doubt.
• The Lions scored the first three points with two kills and a service ace and never trailed in the 25-15 win.
• Dominican brought the lead to one, 6-5, but Georgian Court put them in the rear-view mirror scoring 12 straight points for a commanding 18-5 lead.
• Four of those 12 points came on Gallo service aces and she hit three straight at one point during the run.
• The Chargers closed the gap a little bit, but it was nothing the Lions couldn't handle and they survived for another set, getting a Simanca and Kyla Davis block to end it.
Set 4
• Looking for a reverse sweep, the Lions needed to get it to a fifth game and looked to be on their way early on.
• GCU was up 10-6, getting four straight kills from four different Lions.
• Still up four, 13-9, Dominican charged back scoring five straight and took at 14-13 lead. Four of the five points were on GCU errors.
• Tied up again at 17, the Chargers scored three straight for a 20-17 lead.
• The Lions kept getting close until finally a block from Davis and Addison Wellington tied the set at 24.
• But again in extra points, it was Dominican who came out on top getting a kill and a GCU attack error to end the set and the match.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Ava Churnesky led GCU with 11 kills.
• Kyla Davis scored a team-best 13 points with nine kills and seven blocks.
• Carmen Rivera helped defensively with 25 digs.
• Amber Gallo landed seven service aces with nine digs.
• Brooke Bowbliss passed out 22 assists.

For the Chargers
• Elizabeth Perez scored 11 kills with eight digs and three aces.
• Savannah Tody chipped in 10 kills and four blocks.
• Kaeden Sanstead gave out 33 assists and had 13 digs for a double-double.
• Haile Comeau led Dominican with 14 digs.

News and Notes
• Kyla Davis secured her 100th career kill.
• The Dominican win means neither team has won back-to-back games since the 2020 (played in the spring of 2021). 
• Only five other players in all of Division II have hit more aces in a four-set match this season than Amber Gallo's seven.
• You don't have to go back too far for the last time GCU had a player with seven or more aces. Martina Croce reached seven last season in a 3-1 Lions win at Bridgeport on Oct. 18. The last time GCU had more was Jessica Sprankle. She landed eight aces Sept. 3, 2022 at home against Queens. 
• This is not the first time GCU has lost a match in which all three set losses were by just two points. The day before Sprankle hit eight aces against Queens, they fell in five sets to The College of Saint Rose. That match featured four sets determined by just two points. The College of Saint Rose won the match with set scores 23-25, 25-19, 25-23, 26-28, 13-15.

Up Next
• Georgian Court has one final nonconference game of 2025 coming up this Monday. They play at St. Thomas Aquinas Oct. 27 at 6 pm.