Saturday, November 1, 2014
Ajanaku, Panthers Take Down Rivals 3-2
STATESBORO, Ga. – In its second five-set match in as many days, Georgia State’s volleyball team emerged victorious in Statesboro, Ga., defeating rival Georgia Southern 3-2, 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 24-26, 15-11, and completing a regular-season sweep of the Eagles.
“We were able to read their attackers better and disrupt their offense with our play at net,” junior Eliza Zachary, who finished with a team-high five blocks, noted. “We played a great match as a team and we were able to salvage a good win on the road.”
Junior Kitan Ajanaku set a new career-high with her.406 hitting percentage. The middle’s 14th kill was her biggest as it helped slam the door on the Eagles in Set 5. Junior Eliza Zachary led all players with 24.5 points on 20 kills and five blocks.
“We got better as a team today,” Ajanaku said. “After dropping the two sets, we showed the ability to come back mentally and physically and play our game.”
NOTING THE PANTHERS…
·Georgia State improves to 8-15 (6-8 SBC) while Georgia Southern falls to 7-18 (6-9 SBC).
·Natalia Nieto now has 2,379 assists in her career after dishing out 53 on Saturday, good for fifth in the GSU record books. She is 17 away from fourth place. The junior finished the match with a double-double (53 assists, 15 digs). It was her sixth in a row and 10th on the year.
·Junior Deidra Bohannon recorded her second-straight double-double with 14 kills and 15 digs. She now has nine double-doubles on the year. Bohannon added three blocks on defense as well.
·The Panthers capitalized on the serving game against the Eagles on Saturday. Three players had three aces and the team had a total of 13 in the match. Sydney Mauer, Natalia Nieto, and Molly Shonk each had three aces.
·The last time the Panthers played in consecutive five-setters was Sept. 27 and Sept. 29 of last season.
“We won the serving and passing game today,” head coach Sally Polhamus said. “We are most proud of the team for their unbelievable fight in every set. Again, this was a total team effort. Georgia Southern is a tough place to play and our composure never wavered.”
Georgia State controlled the first set and came away with a 25-20 win. The Eagles fell behind early but tied the set at 11. Georgia State was able to stop the run and begin one of its own. The Panthers rattled of an 8-1 run to go on top 19-12 and maintained a lead the rest of the way. The Eagles came close at 23-20, but couldn’t overcome the Panther offense which hit .378 in the set.
Freshman Sydney Mauer started off the second set with back-to-back aces for Georgia State. Mauer leads the team in aces with 32 on the season.
Georgia Southern called its first timeout of the set after the Panthers jumped on top 6-1. GaSo responded with a 6-1 run of its own to tie the set at 7. After trailing 12-13, the Panthers responded with a 5-0 run to go up 17-13 using back-to-back aces by Molly Shonk. The Eagles pulled within one point at 24-23, but GSU shut the door with a kill by Zachary to win 25-23 and go up 2-0 at intermission.
Georgia Southern came out strong after intermission and took a 5-2 lead. Polhamus called a timeout to gather the team, but the Eagles kept the pressure on. Down 11-14, the Panthers scored three-straight to tie the set with the tying point coming off a block by Bohannon and Zachary. The Eagles went back on top after a timeout but the Panthers rallied to take a 20-19 lead, their first lead in the set since being on top 1-0. It wouldn’t last, however, and Georgia Southern took the set 25-23.
Set 4 got underway in similar fashion as the previous frame. The Eagles held an early lead and stretched it to five at 9-4. GaSo led most of the way, but the Panthers threatened when they cut the lead the two at 19-21. Georgia State used a block from Ajanaku followed by an Eagles error to pull even at 22. Georgia State took its first lead of the set at 24-23, but ultimately fell 24-26.
Georgia State flipped the script in Set 5 and raced out to an 8-3 lead. Georgia Southern called a timeout and the Eagles were able to make it a three-point set at 12-9. Georgia State closed the door as Zachary killed it to win 15-11.
The Panthers return to the court this weekend as they host a pair of home matches on Friday and Saturday against Arkansas State and UL Monroe, respectively. Both matches are scheduled for 6 p.m.
Georgia State Outlasts Eagles 3-2
STATESBORO, Ga. – Eliza Zachary tallied 20 kills, two aces and five blocks to lead Georgia State to a 3-2 (25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 24-26, 15-11) Sun Belt Conference volleyball victory over Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Jamie DeRatt and Cathrine Murray each tallied 17 kills to lead Georgia Southern (7-18, 6-9), while Kym Coley added 13 kills, six digs and four blocks. Megan Chevalier finished with 12 kills, seven digs and three blocks, and Kat Minnerly recorded 49 assists and nine digs. Avery Stephens finished with a team-high 17 digs.
Deidra Bohannon and Kitan Ajanaku each posted 14 kills for Georgia State (8-15, 6-8), and Natalia Nieto collected 53 assists and 15 digs. Morgan Paterson added a match-high 19 digs.
The Eagles outhit the Panthers by a slim margin, but Georgia State took advantage of their serve, notching 13 aces. The Eagles were also whistled for six block errors in the match.
Georgia Southern faced match point at 24-23 in the fourth set, but Murray put down three straight kills to give the Eagles the set 26-24. Georgia State came right back in the fifth set and jumped out to a 10-3 lead. The Eagles used a 6-2 run, aided by kills by Murray and Chevalier and a block by Leah Joseph, to cut the margin to 12-9.
Zachary halted the run with a kill, and Molly Shonk served her third ace of the match to make the score 14-9. The Eagles got two points in a row, but Zachary finished the match with a kill.
“I’m proud of them for coming back and the toughness that we demonstrated, but in the fifth set, some inexperience showed,” said Georgia Southern coach Dustin Wood. “That was our first five-setter this year, and I think we’ll learn from it.”
The Eagles hit .184 in the first set while Georgia State hit .378 en route to taking the frame 25-20. Georgia Southern was much better offensively in the second set but the Panthers got off to a 6-1 lead. Trailing 24-21, Georgia Southern fought off two set points with consecutive kills by Murray before Zachary put down a ball to give the Panthers a 2-0 cushion in the match. Georgia State fought off two set points in the third before Zachary’s attack went long.
“We were a little bit too much one dimensional, and I didn’t think we passed too well,” said Wood. “But we stayed with it, kept it together and fought hard today.”
Georgia Southern has a week off before traveling to long-time rival Appalachian State for a Sun Belt match Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.
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UALR Extends Record Streak to 16 in Sweep of Troy
LITTLE ROCK – The UALR volleyball team extended its winning streak to 16 with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-18) sweep of Troy at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday night.
UALR (21-4, 15-0 Sun Belt Conference) got a double-double from Sonja Milanovic – her 11th of the season – as the junior notched 10 kills and 14 digs. Senior Edina Begic was also in double-digit kills, leading UALR with 12. Begic is now eight kills away from 2,000 in her career.
UALR was also excellent at the net, totaling 15.5 team blocks and getting seven block assists from Carolee Dillard. UALR forced Troy into a -.010 hitting percentage, an opponent’s lowest hitting percentage against UALR in Sun Belt play.
Sophomore setter Megan Mathis recorded another 30-assist night, and senior libero Capri Rino picked up another double-digit digs night with 10.
The first set started out very even, with the team battling back and forth until the late going. With the set tied at 17-17, UALR went on a three-point run to take a 20-17 advantage, the first time either team led by three at any point in the set. UALR got that lead on kills by Begic, Dillard and an Edina Selimovic service ace. Troy got as close as two at 21-19, but UALR closed out the set on four straight points. UALR got a kill by Dillard, two Troy errors and a Begic service ace to finish out the first frame.
In the second set, things were again tight in the early going with UALR only ahead by two at 11-9. But a five-point run on a service run by Capri Rino got UALR ahead 16-9, and UALR never looked back. UALR extended its lead to as many as 10 points throughout the set, and their set-winning point on a Troy attack error made it an 11-point set victory.
The final frame saw UALR get control early on, leading 7-3 behind multiple errors from Troy. The lead grew to 11-5 before Troy took its first timeout, but UALR only improved its lead to 15-8 before Troy was forced to use its second timeout. Little changed for the visitors after their second timeout, and four kills in a five-point span from Adisa Hodzic, Milanovic and Begic. The set and match came to an end when UALR got a triple block on a Darby Griff attack. Begic, Dillard and Milanovic all went up to reject the Troy attack and send the fans home happy.
UALR is away from home next weekend for a big road test at UT Arlington and Texas State. The Trojans take on the Mavericks on Friday at 6:30 p.m. before facing the Bobcats on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Troy Volleyball Falls to Sun Belt Leader UALR
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – The Troy volleyball team concluded its weekend road trip with a three-set loss to Sun Belt leader UALR, 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-18), at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday night.
Troy (9-18, 1-14) hit just .039 in the match, its second lowest attack percentage of the season, while UALR hit .231. The loss was Troy’s 14th straight while the win was the 16th straight for UALR (21-4, 15-0).
Marija Zelenovic had a team-high six kills for Troy, but also had six errors. Darby Griff was the only other Trojan with five kills. Reina Terry was Troy’s primary setter on Saturday, recording 21 assists.
Ali Dowdall had a match-high 16 digs for Troy while Griff posted a team-high five blocks. Troy recorded 6.0 total team blocks while UALR had 12.5 as a team, led by seven from Carolee Dillard.
Edina Begic, the Preseason Sun Belt Player of the Year, had a match-high 12 kills while Sonja Milanovic had 10 kills for UALR.
Troy held a lead in the latter stages of the first set, 17-16, but UALR scored four straight to pull ahead, 20-17. Troy got back within two at 21-19, but UALR scored four straight points again to take a 25-19 win.
UALR pulled ahead midway through the second set with a five-point run that turned an 11-9 lead into a 16-9 lead for the homestanding Trojans. Troy would only manage five more points before UALR took the 25-14 win.
A five-point UALR run turned a two-point lead into a 12-5 lead early in the third set, and Troy never got closer than four points as UALR won the final set 25-18.
Troy returns to the court next weekend when it hosts its final home matches of the season. ULM and UL Lafayette are set to visit Trojan Arena on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m.
For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube by searching for Troy Athletics.