Eagle Volleyball Continues Winning Ways at Home
10/6/2011 12:34:00 AM | Volleyball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Volleyball team (11-9) extended its home winning streak to 9 games with a 3-0 match victory over North Florida (8-10) Wednesday night. The Eagles won 25-15, 25-19, 25-20 over the Atlantic Sun foe in the non-conference finale for Georgia Southern.
GSU hit .330 in the match and steadily increased their hitting percentage from .219 in the first set to .424 in the third set. It was a total team effort on offense with Meredith Paskert (Brecksville, Ohio) leading the team with 9 kills. Kate Van Dyke (Shawnee, Kan.) added seven kills and a stellar .750 hitting percentage to go along with 27 assists. Moriah Bellissimo (Blackstone, Va.) and Nicole Jeschelnik (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) were second on the squad with eight kills each.
It was a similar story on defense. The Eagles held the Ospreys to a .107 hitting percentage and got a balanced effort from the back line. North Florida hit a negative .028 in the first set and posted a match high of just .216 in the third set. Bellissimo recording a team-best 10 digs, while Van Dyke posted 9 digs to help neutralize the UNF offense.
Georgia Southern jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first set due in part to four Osprey errors. North Florida pulled to within three points, 12-9, before the Eagles pulled away to win the first set by 10 points.
UNF opened the second set with three-straight points and led 6-2 before GSU tied the set at 9-9. The Eagles took their first lead in the set, 10-9, thanks to a Van Dyke kill. Parker Small (Charlotte, N.C.) tallied four kills to help Georgia Southern to a 25-19 second-set win.
The Eagles led by as many as six points in the third set, 17-11, but had to hold on for a 25-20 third-set victory. GSU got four kills from Van Dyke and four from Bellissimo in the third set.
Three players posted seven kills for North Florida but all three were held below a .300 hitting percentage. Casey Giovanazzi tallied 25 of the team's 29 assists and added three kills of her own. Nicole Baran led the UNF defense with 16 digs, while Anna Budinska added 10 digs.
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