Volleyball Falls 3-1 at Georgia in Season Opener
ATHENS, Ga. – Junior Enjoli Johnson collected 12 kills and hit .556 in the match, but the Georgia Southern volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 19-25, 25-10) to Georgia in the 2012 season opener for both teams Friday night at the Ramsey Center.
Johnson had 12 kills on 18 attempts with just two hitting errors while adding three block assists. Meredith Paskert added 10 kills, five digs and three block assists for the Eagles (0-1), while Kym Coley posted nine kills and two block assists.
Kate Van Dyke finished the night with 42 assists to go along with five digs and a pair of block assists, while Moriah Bellissimo and Alexandra Beecher each had 13 digs.
Brittany Northcutt led the Bulldogs (1-0) with 14 kills and 10 digs, and Tirah Le'au notched 12 kills and hit .414. Lauren Teknipp added 12 kills, while Allison Summers collected a match-high 21 digs.
After falling behind 2-0, the Eagles won the third set 25-19 after hitting .257 and allowing Georgia to hit .171. But the Bulldogs recovered to win the fourth set 25-10 as they hit .480 in the set and allowed just seven Eagle kills.
"I'm really proud of our effort through three sets," said Eagle coach Chad Callihan. "We competed well with a very strong Georgia team. The ending was disappointing but there are a number of positives for our team to build upon."
The first set went back and forth before the Eagles took a brief 23-22 lead on a block by Van Dyke and Paskert. But after an Eagle service error tied the score, Northcutt and Teknipp put down consecutive kills to lift the Bulldogs to a 1-0 lead.
Georgia Southern led by as many as four points in the second set and was ahead 19-16 after a Johnson kill. But Georgia rallied, winning seven straight points, including two kills from Northcutt, to open a 23-19 cushion.
The Eagles never trailed in the third set and led 12-7 following a Coley kill. A kill by Johnson made the score 17-10, and Georgia Southern was never threatened in trimming the margin to 2-1. The Bulldogs responded by racing out to a 14-4 cushion and never let the margin dip below eight points in the fourth set.
The Eagles return to action with a pair of matches tomorrow as the Benson Hospitality Bulldog Invitational continues at the Ramsey Center. Georgia Southern will face Georgia State at 10 a.m. before taking on Slovenia in an exhibition match at 4 p.m.
Fans can follow their Eagles at GSEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.
- Category: Volleyball
- Published on Friday, 24 August 2012 22:46
