In an emotionally charged evening at the Ramsey Center Georgia ended a four match losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Brittany Northcutt had three kills in Georgia's win over Arkansas. KATHRYN INGALL/Staff

The Bulldogs made a fast start before having to battle to the very last point to move their season record to 10-15 and their southeastern conference record to 6-9.

“This was a really hard fought match on both sides,” said Georgia head coach Lizzy Stemke. “Of course we’re excited with the win but I think what we’re really excited about is the way we played, the way we executed and the way we fought.”

Georgia could not have hoped to open the match in better fashion than they did.  The first set has proven problematic for the Bulldogs in recent weeks but they comfortably took a 1-0 lead against Arkansas thanks to some impressive defensive work and efficient offense.  Georgia won 12 points on 16 Razorback serves for a 75 percent side out rate while also recording a .484 hitting percentage.  The home team didn’t trail at any point in the first set opening up an early five-point lead before eventually winning by a 10-point margin.

Senior middle blocker Ann Dylla led the team offensively with five kills while the defensive effort was fronted by senior setter Kathleen Gates with six digs.

“Our side did a really good job hitting tonight,” said sophomore defensive specialist Allison Summers. “We just had to make sure we capitalized on our great blocking and making sure we were able to be balanced on the back row”

In the second set Georgia were met with a much more competitive Arkansas team that eventually won a 23-25decision.  The Bulldogs continued to impress defensively especially on the Razorbacks service as the home team recorded a 62 percent side out rate.

Offensively Georgia struggled as ITS hitting percentage dropped to a .237 mark. The set was marked by the increasing influence of sophomore outside hitter Brittany Northcutt and junior right sided hitter Briana Bahr who recorded 3 kills each.

In a set of high quality volleyball it seemed for much of the third that the teams would cancel each other out. Georgia however was able to pull away right at the end thanks to some impressive net defense and emphatic offense.

The Bulldogs recorded four team blocks in the set, which was more than they had recorded in the previous two combined.  Bahr led the team in with five kills with her fifth proving to be the most important as it closed out the Bulldogs 25-23 win. The equality of the two teams was evident in a third set that featured 10 tie scores and six lead changes.

One of the most passionate sets the Ramsey Center has seen in a while ended with a chorus of boos raining down on the officials after two calls seemed to swing momentum firmly in Arkansas’ favor.

With the Razorbacks leading 17-19 a seemingly innocuous Bulldogs offensive series ended with assistant coach Josh Lauer screaming at the official positioned in front of the Georgia bench and Stemke sending senior team captain Kathleen Gates to ask lead referee Sue Wainio-Oato to clarify the call.

Georgia didn’t believe she did and, following another call going the Hogs way that nearly had volunteer coach Matt Huskey hurling his clipboard, the visitors won an emotionally charged fourth set 21-25 to tie the match at two sets all and force a deciding fifth.

“There were a couple of calls we have to continue to battle through,” Stemke said. “I think the girls showed great composure and emotions run high and that’s what makes college sports so fun.”

The prospect of going to a fifth set carried mixed emotions for the players.

“It was very exciting and nerve racking of course,” Northcutt said. “Going to five especially when we went to five with them last time and came out with the win to come out with it again is awesome.”

Georgia came out with the win thanks to a 15-12 final set score.  Northcutt recorded three kills in the set to finish with 16 in the game and, combined with her 14 digs, notched her fifth double double of the season. The set swung on a big timeout called by Stemke with the score at 13-12. Georgia won the next two points to finish off a hugely emotional win for both the players and coaches.  Stemke said the message to her team during the timeout was simple.

“Every time we called a time out and every time we came together and talked we focused on our game plan and we talked about what we needed to do strategically,” Stemke said. “Our communication needed to stay at a super high level so real kudos to our girls for continuing to fight and staying with the game plan.”

Summers finished with a team leading 21 digs and felt winning a five set match said a lot about her team.

“Games to five are really the time we show our passion and our fight,” Summers said. “It comes down to that match only going to 15 so we had to go fight for every single point and it’s nerve racking but it’s really exciting when we come together and play our best volleyball.”

Stemke knows the challenge she faced when she signed on as Bulldogs head coach eleven months ago and feels that this win over an Arkansas team with a 16-9 (8-6 SEC) record is a good launching point towards the end of the season.

“It’s a great boost for morale … we get to get excited that we can be in there with the best in the conference,” Stemke said. “These are matches that we build on and we always have it in the back of our minds that we do know how to fight and it’s something to reach for down the stretch.”