The last time VCU volleyball played a home game at the Stuart C. Siegel Center, it was still sponsored by Alltel.
With a newly named arena and a streak in which they won five of their last six matches, the Rams came back to Richmond to face George Washington Wednesday.
VCU fought back from a 2-0 hole, but came up short losing 3-2.
“We were just lucky to get out of here unscathed as far as our record goes. It definitely challenged us to become a better team playing VCU,” GW coach Jojit Coronel said.
The Colonials jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first set and kept the VCU attack at bay, winning the opening set 25-23. VCU had a 5-0 run and tied it at 23 before GW was able to win the final two points.
George Washington also won the second game thanks to balanced scoring.
“We do a really good job of distributing the ball . We’ve really done that all season long,” Coronel said.
Through two games, the teams went into the break with the momentum completely in one locker room as GW led 2-0.
But as the teams took the court for game three, the Rams set out to prove they were not an easy out.
In the third set, the Rams and Colonials battled back and forth as neither team was able to take a lead larger than three points.
Finally the Rams were able to take advantage of some George Washington errors and win their first set of the evening 25-21.
As momentum slowly began to fit into its black and gold jersey, the Rams sent a message they were back in the match.
VCU absolutely dominated the fourth set.
“We couldn’t stop them that fourth game. We were down the whole time no matter how much we chipped away,” Coronel said.
The Rams once led 7-1 and ended up winning the game 25-16, sending the match to a fifth and deciding game.
With the game on the line, it appeared early in the final set that VCU would dominate this set as well, jumping out to a 3-1 lead and eventually leading 10-7.
But the Colonials outscored the Rams 8-1 from there, winning the set 15-11 and the match 3-2.
Freshman Michala Kvapilova (Liberec, Czech Republic/Gymnasium Pripotocni) led the team with 19 kills and a hitting percentage of 43 percent.
Mariel Frey (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township) had 14 kills and a 36 percent hitting percentage.
Katie Butz led George Washington with 15 kills. MacKenzie Knox had a game-high 66 percent hitting percentage.
The game featured 28 ties and 13 lead changes.
The loss moves the Rams to 13-7 on the season, while George Washington advanced to 13-5 with the win.
VCU prepares for a huge weekend of the CAA season back on their home court.
The Rams play UNC Wilmington on Friday and Georgia State on Saturday at the Siegel Center. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.