As the six freshmen experienced their first college volleyball win Sunday, head coach Joel McCartney was having career win number 300.

The Bulldogs (2-1) cruised past Furman Sunday in the first match of a double-header at the Bulldog Invitational, to give McCartney the milestone victory.

“There’s been a lot of leadership in my life that was a big part of that,” McCartney said of reaching 300 wins. “I’ve had a chance in the day to reflect about those people in my life, Jerry Mosser, athletic director at Bellevue University, Tom Hickman, the athletic director at Winthrop, and Dr. DiGiorgio, the president (at Winthrop) and now (Athletic Director) Damon Evans giving me the opportunity here at Georgia to continue a pretty special run and allow me to do this at a higher level.”

After the match, McCartney was presented with a plaque during a ceremony in front of fans.

Georgia finished the tournament with a 2-1 record after losing to rival Georgia Tech Friday. The Bulldogs came back strong Sunday and, after defeating Furman 3-0, it also beat Georgia State by the same score.

“Anytime you’ve got to play two matches in one day, it’s really good to get a couple of wins and a couple of three (set) wins,” McCartney said.

Added senior Maria Taylor: “We had to learn a lot in Fridays match and try to come out with fire (Sunday). I know our first game we came out really strong and then we kind of lagged.”

It was evident that there was no lack of fire against Furman. The Bulldogs came out strong taking a 21-11 lead in the first set before winning it 25-17. The dominance continued in the next two sets as Georgia won both by a 25-15 score.

That momentum carried over into the Georgia State match as Georgia won by set scores of 29-27, 25-18, and 25-21. Taylor continued her strong play in the tournament by collecting 17 kills in the match. Sophomore Erika Clark had an exceptional match with 10 kills, four in a row during the first set.

“I think in the first couple of matches I was struggling and I knew that I needed to step it up personally, and the last match was my opportunity to do so,” Clark said.

Freshman Kathleen Gates and sophomore Valentina Gonzalez were selected to the All-Tournament Team. Gates, the team’s setter, led the way with a total of 119 assists for the tournament. Gonzalez had 29 kills, ten assists and eleven blocks during the tournament.

The Bulldogs face Mercer (2-1) tonight at the Ramsey Center at 7.