STATESBORO – Skylar Ball pounded down 11 kills, and the Eagles served nine aces in a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-23) non-conference volleyball victory over South Carolina State Tuesday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Six different Eagles recoded service aces, and Cathrine Murray, April Luther and Casey McColl recorded two apiece. Murray added nine kills and six digs, and Lauren Reichard chipped in eight kills and three blocks for Georgia Southern (4-8).

Alexus Holt led South Carolina State (1-13) with 10 kills, and Marcella Chestnut contributed nine kills and six digs.

The story
The Eagles hit a season-high .320 in the match, including .379 in the second set and .351 in the third. Luther spread the ball around well and recorded 35 assists, while seven Eagles had three or more kills.

Leading the match 1-0, GS trailed 13-12 in the second, but Murray posted consecutive kills, and Landon Jones served an ace to help the Eagles take control with an 8-4 run. SCSU cut the margin to 20-17 on a Chestnut kill, but Megan Chevalier had the last two kills in a 5-2 run to end the set.

GS trailed 7-1 early in the third but rallied all the way back and opened a 21-20 lead on a Reichard kill. Luther and Ball added kills to give GS some breathing room, and Ball finished the match when her attack bounced off the block over her head and all the way over the GS end line for a kill.

Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
On serving
"It's something we're getting better at, and it showed on Saturday and tonight. I'm very happy with that."

On spreading the ball around offensively
"It definitely keeps defenses off balance, and we're not relying on one or two people. It's pretty evenly dispersed so, I'm pretty happy with everybody's effort tonight. There's some things we have to work on that we've worked on in practice and we saw improvements tonight. We're we need to be yet, but it's a good step forward."

Next up
Georgia Southern opens a five-match road trip at Sun Belt opponent Troy Friday.