Volleyball Falls to Arizona State in Carolina Classic Opener
9/10/2011 12:59:00 AM | Volleyball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Georgia Southern Volleyball team (3-6) fell to Arizona State (4-3) in the 2011 Carolina Classic opener Friday night. The Eagles improved on their blocking, posting a season-high 10 blocks, but a .148 attack percentage hampered the offense in the 3-1 loss.
Arizona State won a tightly contested first set after a pair of Eagle errors erased a 19-19 tie. Georgia Southern rallied in the second set to win 25-19 after holding Arizona State to a .087 attack percentage. The Sun Devils bounced back with their best set yet, hitting .353 en route to winning set three 25-16. They wrapped up the 3-1 match win with a close 25-22 victory in set four.
GSU's defense tallied 70 digs including 19 from Lauren LaRocque (Frisco, Texas) and 16 from Hayli Ketner (Spartanburg, S.C.) to hold the Sun Devils to a .202 hitting percentage.
Moriah Bellissimo (Blackstone, Va.) worked her way into the Georgia Southern offense and posted a team-high 11 kills and a .417 hitting percentage. Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) added 10 more kills, while Parker Small (Charlotte, N.C.) tossed in eight. Kate Van Dyke (Shawnee, Kan.) set up the offense with 38 of the team's 41 assists. She also added eight digs on the defensive end.
The Georgia Southern Volleyball team continues the 2011 Carolina Classic tomorrow with a pair of games against North Carolina at noon and San Diego at 5:30 p.m.
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