Friday, September 25
Eagles Open Homestand with 3-2 Victory
STATESBORO, Ga. – Katie Bange tallied her sixth triple-double of the season with 18 kills, 10 digs and 18 assists to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-2 (25-17, 14-25, 26-24, 22-25, 16-14) Sun Belt Conference volleyball victory over South Alabama Friday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Lauren Reichard added 11 kills and eight blocks, and Kendra Koetter finished with 31 assists and 18 digs for Georgia Southern (9-9, 2-1). Stephanie Spencer tallied nine kills and 11 digs, and Alex Beecher finished with a match-high 23 digs.
Kelley Hartman posted 11 kills and nine blocks to lead South Alabama (9-7, 0-3), and Iva Durdanovic posted 10 kills, eight digs and four blocks.
The story
Georgia Southern used an 8-1 run, keyed by a pair of Megan Chevalier kills, to open a 13-6 lead in the fifth set. South Alabama got a sideout and brought in Deanna Canfield off the bench to serve. The Jaguars won the next five points and trimmed the margin to 13-12 on a kill by Mechell Daniel.
The Eagles pushed to match point on a Cathrine Murray kill, but South Alabama won the next two points to tie the score 14-14. Spencer answered with two straight kills to end the match and give the Eagles the win.
The Eagles started the match on fire and hit .517 in the first set while cruising to a 25-17 win. Fourteen errors in the second set hurt GS, and the Eagles hit minus-.200 as South Alabama tied the match.
Georgia Southern was down 20-14 in the third but chipped away and tied the score 23-23 on a kill by Reichard. After the teams traded points, Bange notched consecutive kills to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead in the match.
Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"We got up 8-4 in the fifth and 13-6, but they wouldn't go away. We did a great job of getting to 13, but we have to do a better job of finishing to 15. The good thing is that we found a way. We'll take it and learn from it and move on from there."
"We played well at times, especially that first set, and then we made some errors and stopped doing what was working. That's a decision our kids have to make - to continue doing what is working instead of trying to do too much."
PANTHERS EDGE TROJANS, EARN FIRST CONFERENCE WIN
ATLANTA – Georgia State and Troy went the full distance of five sets on Friday night. GSU took the final set by a final of 15-11 to close out the match. Head coach Sally Polhamus and the Panthers improve to 5-9 overall and 1-2 in Sun Belt conference play.
The Panthers used a balanced offensive attack to get the victory as Kristina Stinson, Eliza Zachary and Crystal Lee combined for 30 kills on the night. Lee led the way for GSU and accounted for a match-high 21 points. Sarah Renner added 36 assists and Celeste Friesen carried GSU defensively with 25 digs.
Logan Page and Symone Shaw paced the Troy Trojan offense with 20 kills between the two. Savannah Moore added six kills of her own to help match Georgia State step-for-step. Reina Terry totaled 25 assists and Bethany Cullity led Troy’s defense with nine digs.
GSU got off to a fast start, taking a 10-5 lead in the first frame and not looking back. Kristina Stinson’s third kill and a couple Trojan attacking errors sealed the opening set for the Panthers.
The Trojans responded nicely with a 25-23 win in set two as Shaw set the tone offensively with four kills. After dismounting Troy 25-10 on stellar offense from Stinson and Friesen’s crisp defending, the Trojans bounced back for another 25-23 win to force a decisive fifth set. Page led the charge and totaled five of her 12 kills in the fourth.
Georgia State used a balanced offensive attack yet again from Shae Chapman, Anna Rantala, Zachary and company to grind out a 15-11 win and match victory. Chapman’s third kill made it match point for the Panthers and a Trojan service error gave GSU the match.
Improving to 1-2 in the Sun Belt, Georgia State will attempt to string together a win streak after snapping a three-match losing streak on Friday night. The Panthers will battle the South Alabama Jaguars Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. in the Sports Arena.
Follow along with Georgia State on Twitter (@GeorgiaStateVB) for the latest news.
Hardeman Leads Coastal to Four Set Win at Texas State
SAN MARCOS, Texas - Leah Hardeman put down 11 kills and tallied 11 digs for her fourth straight double-double to lead the Coastal Carolina volleyball team to a four-set victory (25-21, 14-25, 25-15, 25-23) at Texas State Friday night.
It is the sixth double-double overall for Hardeman this season, and helps Coastal improve to 11-4, 2-1. The Chants play their second of five straight away matches on Saturday, taking on UT Arlington at 6:30 p.m. CT/7:30 p.m. ET.
Hardeman also added three blocks and was one of four Chants to send back at least three Bobcat attacks as Coastal tallied 12 total team blocks. Kinga Windisch led the match with six blocks, while Annayka Legros totaled four and Dora Lulic provided three.
Legros and Iva Mandic each contributed nine kills in the win with the latter posting a .304 hitting percentage. Mandic was outdone only by Lulic, who led all players hitting .625 for the match.
Coastal opened the match hitting .200 and registered five of its 12 team blocks in the first set. The Bobcats hit just .056 in the frame, but still managed to overtake the lead five times. It wasn't until a Legros kill gave the Chants an 18-17 lead that CCU remained in front for the remainder of the set and took a 1-0 match lead.
Texas State responded by taking five of the first six points to open the second set, and hitting .231 to Coastal's -.107 en route to an 11-point set win.
It was all Coastal after the break, however, as the Chants hit .265 and .353 over the final two sets, respectively. Mandic led the Chants with six kills in the third while Hardeman went off for the seven in the fourth.
Coastal ended the third set on an impressive 13-5 run, though the fourth set proved tougher to close out. Texas State held a 19-17 lead before Coastal won five straight points to overtake the advantage, 22-19. The Bobcats evened the set one final time at 23 point apiece, but a pair of kills from Hardeman closed the match.
@stAteVolleyball Sweeps ULM
JONESBORO, Ark. (9/30/16) – The Arkansas State volleyball team swept ULM 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-21) Friday night at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro in the Red Wolves home Sun Belt Conference opener.
The win improved A-State to 11-6 overall and 3-0 in league play with the victory representing its 19th straight SBC win. The Warhawks fell to 7-13 overall and 2-1 in SBC action.
“This was a total team effort,” A-State head volleyball coach David Rehr said. “We played pretty well against an improved ULM squad; especially the first two sets and stepped up when we had to in set three. Now we move on to Louisiana-Lafayette and this will be our first back-to-back slate in league play so it will be interesting to see how we recover and play tomorrow night.”
A-State jumped out to a 14-6 advantage in set one on a Carlisa May block before the Warhawks used a timeout. The stoppage did little to slow the Red Wolves down as the team extended its advantage to 23-10 on a Markie Schaedig service ace. The home team won two of the next four points, the last on a Kenzie Fields kill, to clinch a 25-12 set victory.
The second set began much the same way with the Red Wolves racing out to a 7-2 lead to force a ULM timeout. Arkansas State stretched the edge to 21-7 on a Nicole Knight service ace and led 22-8 in the game after Pulotu Manoa registered her first career kill. ULM got within 24-13, but a kill by Brentlee Weaver gave A-State a 25-13 set win.
The third set was very competitive with neither team gaining much of an advantage and saw the score tied 17-17. However, ULM went on a 4-1 run to take a 21-18 edge that forced A-State to use a timeout. The Red Wolves responded with a 3-0 run to tie it at 21-21 with ULM calling for a stoppage. A-State gained two more points on kills by May to make the tally 23-21 and the Warhawks used their second timeout. However, a kill by Kelsey Reis and ace by Fields capped a 7-0 run for A-State and clinched a 25-21 set win and 3-0 match victory.
May led the team with 13 kills on a .346 hitting percentage and also added two blocks. Weaver was second with seven scores on a .778 hitting mark. Mallory Warrington handed out 33 assists and also tied Reis for the team high in blocks with each player recording three. Jessica Heuertz led the team with nine digs, while Schaedig and Lindsay Cline registered eight apiece. Schaedig also tied her career high with four aces as A-State set a new season high with nine as a team.
Arkansas State continues league play Saturday night with a home matchup against Louisiana-Lafayette. First serve from the Convocation Center is set for 6 p.m.
Mavs hand Mountaineers 13th straight loss
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington seized control throughout a quick Sun Belt Conference sweep of Appalachian State Friday night at College Park Center.
UTA (9-9, 3-0 SBC) broke .500 for the first time in exactly one month and extended its win streak to a season-high five matches. The Mavericks evened the all-time series against Appalachian State (2-14, 0-3) at 3 games apiece.
UTA grasped a commanding 10-of-12 points early in the first set. Three consecutive blocks from Marisah Ingram and Cassidy Wheeler later wore the Mountaineers down and a final kill from Kaitlyn Granger set the tone to end the first, 25-15.
A control in momentum led to a 5-1 opening run for the Mavericks in the second frame, and their lead grew to as large as 13 at set-point. With three consecutive service aces from Madelyn St. Germain late in Set 3, UTA was able to pad its advantage and finish the job 25-14.
PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
Cassidy Wheeler notched a game-high 27 assists and five blocks. The senior also added five kills and a .625 hitting percentage. Marisah Ingram tallied four blocks with eight kills.
KEY STATS
The Mavs took the driver's seat early, putting up five blocks and holding the Mountaineers to a -.111 attack percentage in the first set. On the night, UTA out-blocked Appalachian State 10-1 and out-killed the team 37-21. The Mountaineers could never find an offensive rhythm, hitting -.022 in the match.
UTA also found success in masking the conference's leading killer in freshman Emma Longley. The freshman totaled just four kills with five digs.
MILESTONE WATCH
Taylor Murata built her case for the top- 10 freshman single-season digs list with 10 against the Mountaineers. Murata is now just 13 away from moving into 10th.
Ragin' Cajuns Prevail in Five Sets at Little Rock
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Consecutive kills by Chloe Cordell capped off a 6-1 set-ending run by the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns volleyball team that landed the squad a five-set victory over the Little Rock Trojans on Friday evening at the Jack Stephens Center.
Trailing 14-11 in the decisive fifth set, the Ragin’ Cajuns (5-12, 2-1 Sun Belt) forced a tie with a Chanelle Gardner kill, Stacey Reilly ace and a Trojans attack error. Little Rock (5-11, 1-2 Sun Belt) took the lead momentarily after Cordell hit into a block by Edina Selimovic and Taylor Lindberg.
An attack error by the Trojans’ Veronica Marin created another tie. This time, Cordell redeemed herself. On the next two rallies she threw down a kill to secure the 3-2 (17-25, 27-25, 15-25, 25-18, 17-15) win for Louisiana, the squad’s first five-set triumph of the season.
The Ragin’ Cajuns, who won at UAB in their last true road outing on Sept. 15, extended their win streak on the opposition’s home floor to two matches. Louisiana completes its Arkansas weekend trip on Saturday in Jonesboro with a 6 p.m. match against Arkansas State (11-6, 3-0 Sun Belt).
Gardner, who missed the previous four matches with an injury incurred at UAB, returned to the lineup and provided instant offense. The St. Martinville High product posted a career-high 21 kills on 41 attempts and hit .439.
Gardner increased her career kills total to 889, moving her within five of tying Tonice White for fourth place on the rally scoring era charts and within striking distance of her 900th career kill.
Stacey Reilly added 19 kills, for her 15th double-digit total of the season, and Nia Antoine produced 14 on just 24 swings with a .542 hitting percentage. Louisiana ended the night with a season-high 69 kills, reaching 60-plus for the second consecutive five-set match (67 vs. Georgia Southern).
Sydney Davis scooped 32 digs for the second straight match, tying her career-high set last Saturday vs. Georgia Southern, to pace the Ragin’ Cajuns defensive effort which stockpiled a season-high 93 digs.
Jessica Bartczyszyn handed out 59 of the Ragin’ Cajuns 65 assists, establishing a career-high total for the second straight outing (posted 57 last Saturday vs. Georgia Southern).
After dropping the first set, the Ragin’ Cajuns avoided a 0-2 deficit in the match by fending off a late Little Rock rally. The Trojans, who earlier trailed 19-14, pulled ahead 25-24. Gardner gave her team a chance with a kill forged a 25-all tie, then an ace from Reilly and kill by Hanna Rovira gave the Louisiana the set and evened the match at 1-1.
Little Rock jumped out to a 9-3 lead and took advantage of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ lowest hitting percentage of the match (.128) to claim the third set 25-15.
Louisiana rebounded and posted 15 kills on a .412 percentage to claim the fourth set. The Ragin’ Cajuns broke a 14-all tie with a 7-0 run which created enough cushion to fend off the hosts who hit .389 in the set.
The Ragin’ Cajuns showed tremendous grit to get in position for the final push in the fifth frame. The squad fell behind 4-0 and was trailing 11-5 before mounting their comeback. Three straight kills, from Reilly, Gardner and Bartczyszyn in succession, followed by a block thrown up by Gardner and Bartczyszyn got the Ragin’ Cajuns back into the set at 11-9.
With the win, the Ragin’ Cajuns defeated Little Rock for the seventh time in the past 12 meetings, dating back to 2010, under head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot’s watch. The seven wins represent the most by a head coach vs. the Trojans in program history.
Louisiana and Little Rock, both members of the Sun Belt West Division, have a rematch scheduled at Earl K. Long Gym on Sunday, Oct. 16.