Volleyball Outlasts Wofford in Five
Both teams have completed the regular season. The Eagles head into the Southern Conference Tournament with a 16-17 overall record and 9-9 in the league. The Terriers are now 16-17 and 6-12.
“It was a tournament-type match this evening,” said GSU head coach Chad Callihan. “Wofford was playing to continue on the tournament so they were giving it everything they had this evening, so I think it helped prepare us for what we face this coming week. It was a good effort from both teams. Everybody left it out on the court tonight.”
After alternating wins through the first four sets, Georgia Southern jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fifth and extended the advantage to 14-6 after four straight service points from sophomore Leah Kettelson (Wray, Colo.). Freshman Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) finished off the match with her 13th kill.
“We’ve been talking about making choices the choice to compete and not give in.,” said Callihan. “We’ve been in a few of those situations this season and hopefully that’s given us confidence in the fifth set. We do a good job of not changing our mindset too much we play to win and not to lose.”
Georgia Southern compiled a .350 attack percentage in the final frame, compared to .000 to Wofford.
The Eagles recorded 98 digs as a team, the most since 2006, and had three players total 20 or more, led by freshman Hayli Ketner’s (Spartanburg, S.C.) career-high 23. Junior Cristin Haines (Palos Heights, Ill.) had 22 and Sanford had 21.
“I thought our defense was fantastic and it had to be to keep up with Wofford,” said Callihan. “Wofford is one of the better defensive teams in the league; they dig a ton of balls and their libero is one of the best we have in the SoCon. If you’re going to compete with them you have to match their defensive effort and intensity and I was glad to see we did that tonight. They executed better offensively than we did but our defense allowed us to continue to compete.”
The Terriers’ Stacy Byrd led all players with 14 kills. Brittany Thompson tallied a match-best 26 digs and Shanna Hughes chipped in with 22 digs.
GSU now move on to the SoCon Tournament where they will play Friday in Greensboro, N.C. Pairings and times will be announced by the conference at a later date.
- Category: Volleyball
- Published on Saturday, 15 November 2008 00:07
