Wisconsin Outlasts Georgia Southern Volleyball 3-2
STATESBORO, Ga. – Alexis Mitchell and Julie Mikaelsen each posted 15 kills, and Wisconsin overcame a four-point deficit in the fifth set to earn a 3-2 (19-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 15-12) volleyball victory over Georgia Southern at the SpringHill Suites Eagle Invitational in Hanner Fieldhouse Friday night.
Trailing 10-6, the badgers scored five straight points with the aid of a kill from Mitchell and two from Mikaelsen. Then the duo got a block to give the Badgers an 11-10 advantage.
Mitchell was in on three more bocks to finish the set. With the score tied 12-12, her kill gave the Badgers the lead back, and then she combined for a block with Crystal Graff to make the margin 14-12. A Georgia Southern hitting error finished the match.
Moriah Bellissimo led the Eagles (7-5) with 14 kills to go along with nine digs and two blocks. Meredith Paskert collected 13 kills and eight digs, and Jamie DeRatt finished with 12 kills and 12 digs. Kate Van Dyke was credited with 46 assists and 17 digs, and Alexandra Beecher had a match-high 28 digs.
Graff finished with nine kills and 11 digs for Wisconsin (10-1), and Mitchell finished with seven digs and five blocks. Mikaelsen had five blocks, and Courtney Thomas posted 49 assists and nine digs.
With the match even at 2-2, the Eagles went on a 6-2 run in the fifth set to open their 10-6 cushion. DeRatt started the spurt with a kill, and Van Dyke and Kym Coley added a block. But the Badger defense took over from there, and Georgia Southern wound up with just five kills on 27 attack attempts in the frame.
The teams traded wins in the first four sets with almost identical scores. GSU raced out to a 9-4 lead to start the match and never trailed in the set from there. When things got tight at 19-17, Bellissimo came up with a couple of kills and served out the set with an ace. Play went the other way in set two as Wisconsin went out to a 9-5 lead and never trailed in the set.
With the Eagles clinging to a 22-21 lead in the third set, DeRatt got a kill, and after a Wisconsin hitting error, ended the set with another kill. The Badgers never trailed in the fourth set and led by as many as seven points at 23-16 following a GSU service error.
Georgia Southern plays two matches in the SpringHill Suites Eagle Invitational Saturday. The Eagles host Savannah State at 2 p.m. and Jacksonville at 7 p.m.
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- Category: Volleyball
- Published on Sunday, 31 December 1899 19:00
