STATESBORO, Ga. – Jamie DeRatt hammered down 20 kills and added 13 digs and three blocks to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 25-19) Southern Conference volleyball victory over Western Carolina Friday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
The win keeps the Eagles (24-5, 12-3 SoCon) in the hunt for the regular-season SoCon title.
Katie Bange posted 15 kills, and
Kym Coley added 13 kills and two blocks.
Crysten Curry finished with seven blocks, while Katalin Minnerly logged 50 assists and 12 digs. Alexandra Beecher finished with a match-high 26 digs.
Addy George led Western Carolina (17-12, 7-8 SoCon) with 15 kills to go along with four blocks. Jordan Timmerman and Caitlin Piechota each tallied 10 kills, and Morgan Cochran recorded 23 digs.
With the match tied 1-1 and the Catamounts leading the third set 21-18, a DeRatt kill sparked a 4-1 run. Western Carolina tied the score 23-23 on a Cristina Nazario kill, but Bange answered with a kill for the Eagles and
Christina Vereb blocked another Nazario attempt to end the set.
The Eagles jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the fourth set and pushed the margin to 18-11 on a Bange kill. The Catamounts trimmed the margin to 21-17 on an Eagle hitting error but that was as close as they would get. Two DeRatt kills sparked a 4-2 Georgia Southern run to end the match.
The Eagles will close out the regular season by taking on Appalachian State Saturday at 3 p.m. as part of a tripleheader with men's and women's basketball. It's Senior Day, Junior Eagle Club Day and fans who bring two canned goods to the game will gain $2 admission to the contest.
Regardless of their final standing or tomorrow's result, the Eagles have qualified for the SoCon Tournament, which we be held at Furman Nov. 22-24.
"We've played very well in stretches this year, and we kind of hit a slump last week," said Georgia Southern coach
Dustin Wood. "We're just trying to get back to where we were and play the way we know we can and the way we have played for most of the year."
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
