Volleyball Falls to Defending South Division Champions
10/1/2011 8:54:00 PM | Volleyball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Despite a 27-25 first-set victory and four players with 10 kills or more, the Georgia Southern Volleyball team (10-9, 3-1) fell to the College of Charleston (12-7, 3-1) 3-1 on Saturday afternoon. Meredith Paskert (Brecksville, Ohio) led the Eagle attack with 14 kills, the most of her GSU career.
Georgia Southern opened with a .400 hitting percentage and committed only two attack errors in the first set to win the point; but the Eagles could not sustain the offense, hitting less than .200 in sets two, three and four. GSU also committed 26 attack errors to hamper their cause.
The Cougars hit over .300 in all but one set and tallied a team average of .307 for the match. Sloane White posted a game-high 18 kills to help Charleston to a 25-15, 25-21, 26-24 victory in the final three sets. The Eagles fought hard in the fourth set and tried to force a fifth, holding the Cougars to a .213 mark but eight attack errors hampered the rally.
Hannah Nelson (Norcross, Ga.) and Moriah Bellissimo (Blackstone, Va.) added 10 kills each, while Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) was second on the squad with 11 kills. Kate Van Dyke (Shawnee, Kan.) added seven kills on 12 attempts and posted 49 of the team's 56 assists.
Lauren LaRocque (Frisco, Texas) posted 20 or more digs for the third time this season and led Georgia Southern's defense with 20 digs from the libero position. Van Dyke added 13 digs in a great all-around performance. She also tallied three block assists and two service aces.
The Volleyball team returns home Wednesday for a 6 p.m. non-conference match with North Florida.
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