Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. – Nicole Jeschelnik tallied 19 kills, and Katalin Minnerly contributed 50 assists and 12 digs to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-1 (25-27, 25-23, 25-15, 25-16) Southern Conference volleyball victory over Samford Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.

The victory moves the Eagles (21-3, 9-1 SoCon) into sole possession of first place in the SoCon standings and sets up a rematch with second-place Furman Friday Nov. 1, in Greenville. The Paladins dealt the Eagles their only league loss, a 3-2 setback in Hanner Fieldhouse Oct. 4.

Jamie DeRatt collected 16 kills and 13 digs for Georgia Southern today, and Kym Coley posted 11 kills. Katie Bange finished with nine kills, and Crysten Curry had four kills and six blocks, including three solo. Alexandra Beecher recorded 18 digs.

Michaela Reesor led Samford (15-10, 6-4 SoCon) with 15 kills, while Katie Murphy added 14 kills and seven blocks. Gabbi Greenwald contributed 11 kills, nine digs and three blocks, and Taylor Palmer posted 10 kills.

Samford fought off two GSU set points to win the first frame 27-25 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.  The Eagle defense started to get going in the second frame as Georgia Southern recorded four team blocks, including two solo stops by Curry.

Curry combined with Bange on a block and followed that with a kill to give the Eagles a 23-20 lead late in the set. Reesor got a kill for Samford but an attack error by the Bulldogs gave GSU set point. After Palmer recorded a kill to make the score 24-23, Minnerly set Bange for a cross-court kill as the Eagles tied the match 1-1.

"They did a really good job passing in the first set so we made some adjustments with our serving," said Georgia Southern coach Dustin Wood. "We were just trying to disrupt their rhythm."

Georgia Southern took its offense to another level from there and hit .520 in the third set with 13 kills on 25 swings and no hitting errors as the Eagles cruised to a 25-15 win. In the fourth set, GSU used a 6-2 run to push a three-point margin to a 20-13 cushion on a DeRatt service ace. Samford would get just three points the rest of the match as the Eagles took the set 25-16.

"Samford is well coached and made things difficult for us, but we did a really good job adjusting to what they did in the match," said Wood. "We did a great job with executing the adjustments we made."

The Eagleshit the road for four straight league matches, beginning with the contest at Furman. Georgia Southern will also take on Wofford Saturday at 2 p.m.

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