By Dan Nachtigal
Special To B-CUAthletics.com

LARAMIE, Wyo.- Bethune-Cookman was back in action at the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic Saturday, dropping 3-0 matches to Florida Gulf Coast and George Washington to end its trip to the Mountain West winless in four contests.

Florida Gulf Coast took a 25-13, 25-18, 25-23 decision. The Eagles' attack was led by Brittney Muse, who had a team-high nine kills.

George Washington (1-6) earned its first victory of the season, with a 25-22, 25-13, 25-21 sweep of the Wildcats behind Jessica Lubic, who racked up 34 assists and four service aces, while Kelsey Newman had a match-high 18 kills.

B-CU dropped to 0-7 on the season.

"We've got a lot of freshmen out there," said B-CU Head coach Isaac Raphael. "We have to be more fundamental. We are still making mistakes that are uncharacteristic of the game of volleyball."

Senior Krysta Gardner continued her stellar play with a season-high 16 kills against Florida Gulf Coast and 11 more against George Washington. She finished the tournament with averages of 11.25 kills and 4.75 digs.

The Florida Gulf Coast match was one of B-CU's best efforts of the season. The Lady Cats hit a season-high .224 and led most of the third set.

Against George Washington, B-CU fell into a quick 6-0 hole in the opening set, but got it together and behind Gardner's powerful serve and managed a 22-22 tie before the Colonials scored the final three points.

Senior Janeen Davis had nine kills and 12 digs in the two matches, and freshman Delicia Pierre had three kills in each contest. Freshman setter Monica Lowe dished out 31 assists and chipped in with eight digs on the day. Jennifer Jimenez showed off her defensive prowess with 10 digs against George Washington.

Host Wyoming went 4-0 and was crowned tournament champion after beating Missouri-Kansas City.

Next on the slate for B-CU is Stetson (1-7) Tuesday in DeLand at 7 p.m.

Dan Nachtigal is a staff writer for the Branding Iron, the University of Wyoming student newspaper.