Volleyball Outlasts Elon 3-2

VIDEO: Post-match interview with OH Nichole Jeschelnik -- 10-14-2012
VIDEO: Post-match interview with OH Meredith Paskert -- 10-14-2012
VIDEO: Post-match interview with Coach Chad Callihan -- 10-14-2012

Box score (PDF)

STATESBORO, Ga. - Nicole Jeschelnik tallied a career-high 19 kills to go along with 16 digs, and Meredith Paskert added 19 kills to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-2 (25-18, 25-22, 19-25, 19-25, 15-6) Southern Conference volleyball victory over Elon Sunday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.

The Eagles (16-6, 7-1 SoCon) won the first two sets but dropped the next two by identical 25-19 scores, and the momentum had definitely swung to the Elon side of the court. The Eagles got a sideout to open a slim 6-4 cushion in the fifth set and proceeded to run off five straight points during Kate Van Dyke’s serve to push the margin to 11-4. Paskert and Jeschelnik each had two kills during the run.

Danielle Smith got a kill for the Phoenix (10-13, 3-5 SoCon), but Paskert answered with a kill and Jeschelnik combined with Kayla Henderson for a block, making the score 13-5. Another Jeschelnik kill gave the Eagles match point, and the Phoenix committed a hitting error to end the contest.

“I’m really proud of the way we competed,” said Georgia Southern coach Chad Callihan. “We are grinders, and we know how to compete. I think in the third and fourth sets we got too caught up in the emotion of the game and made a few mistakes that led to more mistakes. Then we collected ourselves and started to play freely.”

The victory broke an eight-match losing streak in five-set matches for GSU, dating back to last season. The Eagles were 0-5 in five-set matches in 2011 and 0-3 this season.

Kym Coley finished with 12 kills for the Eagles, and Henderson posted eight. Van Dyke had 56 assists and 16 digs, and Alexandra Beecher posted a match-high 27 digs, including a few spectacular ones during long rallies in the fifth set.

Smith led Elon with 12 kills, while Kris Harris added 11 and Megan Gravley posted 10. The Phoenix combined for 13 blocks, nine of which came in the third and fourth sets when they made their run.

The Eagles open a four-match road swing at North Division leader and defending SoCon champion Samford Oct. 20.

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Category: Volleyball

Published on Sunday, 31 December 1899 19:00