Volleyball Opens Season with Win over Presbyterian

STATESBORO, Ga. --- Senior Bianca Julio (Curitiba, Brazil) had a match-high 18 kills and Georgia Southern recorded 14 blocks to defeat Presbyterian 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 18-25, 25-22) Friday night at the Holiday Inn Volleyball Invitational.

The match was the season opener for both teams. GSU takes on Central Florida Saturday at noon while PC faces Jacksonville at 10 a.m.

“I thought we played hard,” said GSU head coach Chad Callihan. “We met beforehand and we talked about playing hard and playing with enthusiasm and I thought we did both of those things. So I thought it was a good performance.”

The Eagles had five players ? and one head coach ? make their Georgia Southern debut. The team has eight newcomers compared to six returning players.

“(They were) jittery,” said Callihan. “But that's to be expected. When we had our meeting we said don't worry about your mistakes because you're going to make them; that's just part of the game. The trick right now is to not dwell on them and allow them to get you out of the next point. So I thought they did well overall. There were some ups and downs but while they made mistakes they didn't let them bring them down and allow it to snowball and turn into quite a few errors.”

Julio had 18 kills for a .368 attack percentage and added 14 digs and five blocks. Her participation in preseason practice was limited due to off-season shoulder surgery.

“She was critical for us this evening,” said Callihan. “I was glad to see it. She struggled a little bit in practice this past week so it was nice to see her rebound out here. She's a senior, she's a competitor, she's somebody we know we can lean on in crucial situations and she definitely came through for us.”

Junior Cristin Haines (Palos Heights, Ill.) and freshman Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) each added a match-high 17 digs.

Freshman Parker Small (Charlotte, N.C.) had eight blocks assists and sophomore Sarah Gildersleeve (Naples, Fla.) had a solo and six assists. The 14 team blocks are the school's highest since 2006.

“We really didn't know what we were going to get with our blocking,” said Callihan. “We try to run a faster tempo offense and sometimes it's hard for the block to catch up to that. When we got out here we thought we were going to see a slower tempo which would produce more for us blocking-wise but we really weren't sure. It was a pleasant surprise and hopefully we can continue to build on that.”

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