Volleyball Outlasts Furman in Five
10/26/2008 4:15:00 AM | Volleyball
GREENVILLE, S.C. --- The Georgia Southern volleyball team scored the last six points of the match to complete a 2-1 rally to defeat Furman 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 22-25, 28-26, 15-9) Sunday afternoon at Alley Gymnasium.
The Eagles even their overall record at 13-13 and improve to 7-5 in the Southern Conference. The Paladins drop to 13-11 and 6-5.
“I thought we did a really good job of competing today,” said Georgia Southern head coach Chad Callihan. “We didn’t necessarily have our best volleyball early on but we fought hard and made some scramble plays to keep us in it, and as the match went along we settled down and found a good rhythm and were able to finish the match strong.”
Freshman Lauren Claybaugh (Danville, Calif.) led the GSU offense with a career-high 18 kills, and added nine digs and five block assists.
“She played great,” said Callihan. “She gave us a huge lift over on the right side. We did a good job of getting back to the quicker tempo with our setting and attacking from that pin and the faster we ran it the more she excelled. It was nice to see her and Mae start connecting well again and she definitely came up with some critical points for us.”
After falling behind 13-9 in the fourth set, Furman rallied for three straight points to get within one. The Eagles scored three consecutive points but the Paladins answered right back with three of their own to knot the score at 18-18. The two teams were separated by no more than two points the rest of the set.
Furman held off two set points but back-to-back kills from Claybaugh sent the match into a deciding set.
The largest lead by either team in the fifth frame up to the 9-9 mark was just two. Consecutive kills from Claybaugh started the final 6-0 run and GSU also took advantage of two FU errors and an ace.
The Eagles hit .500 as a team in the final set compared to .095 for the Paladins.
“We played crisp that entire fifth game,” said Callihan. “We started out well and when we went on that run it was because of our serving. Cristin (Haines) had a couple of really nice serves in critical situations, was able to pinpoint the ball and knock them out of system. We also did a good job with our block. We were disciplined there at the end and put our hands in the right place and forced them into some shot-making that we were able to dig and transition better.”
Senior Christy Dowd (Indianapolis, Ind.) recorded a season-high 16 kills on 48 swings and senior Mae Chabra (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) dished out 54 assists, also a season-best. Sophomore Michelle Uzoh (San Antonio, Texas) posted seven kills and a team-high .400 hitting percentage, in addition to her six blocks.
For Furman, Alison West and Brooke Ellison tallied team-high totals of 17 kills and 24 digs, respectively.
Georgia Southern returns to the court Tuesday night with a home match against Savannah State at 7 p.m.
