Volleyball Falls in SoCon Tourny Opener Against App State
11/20/2011 3:07:00 AM | Volleyball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Despite four players with double-digit kills, the Georgia Southern Volleyball team fell 3-2 to the Appalachian State Mountaineers in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament on Saturday. The Mountaineers won their second-straight game on the court of the Pete Hanner Center 25-18, 19-25, 25-21, 23-25, 12-15.
Georgia Southern (18-15, 10-7), the defending tournament champions, out-hit Appalachian State .208 to .167 and committed fewer errors 24 to 33 in a back-and-forth march. GSU won sets one and three, but the Mountaineers won the final two sets back-to-back to win the match.
Appalachian State (21-10, 13-4) hit .235 in the fifth set, their second-best hitting percentage of the night, to pull out the three-point win. The Eagles were held to .130 average and two of their four attack errors came in the final four points.
Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) led a crop of Eagles who tallied 10 or more kills with a team-best 19 kills. Enjoli Johnson (Lilburn, Ga.), who posted four kills in the second set, was second on the team with 12 kills. Kym Coley (Aiken, S.C.) and Meredith Paskert (Brecksville, Ohio) rounded out the group with 10 kills each.
Appalachian State advances to face the College of Charleston in the semifinals of the Samford hosted tournament on Sunday. Anna Wagner equaled Sanford's output with 19 kills of her own. Three other Mountaineers chipped in 10 or more kills.
The game was the final one for the 2011 Georgia Southern Volleyball team and their four seniors.
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