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GREENVILLE, S.C. – Junior All-Southern Conference selection Jamie DeRatt recorded her 18th double-double of the season with 18 kills and a career-high 21 digs to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-1 (28-26, 24-26, 25-20, 25-23) volleyball victory over Appalachian State in the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament Saturday evening in Timmons Arena.

The top-seeded Eagles (27-5) will meet Samford Sunday at 6 p.m. in Timmons Arena. Sunday's winner receives the leagues automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

It will be Georgia Southern's fifth appearance in the championship match, where the Eagles are 3-1 all-time. Georgia Southern topped Samford 3-1 in their only meeting this season, back on Oct. 26 in Hanner Fieldhouse.

DeRatt hit .364 against the Mountaineers (19-13) and put down three kills in a 5-1 Eagle run late in the decisive fourth set.

"Jamie stepped up and really put the team on her back," said Georgia Southern coach Dustin Wood. "She really grew up tonight and showed a lot of maturity."

Kym Coley finished with 12 kills and four blocks, and Nicole Jeschelnik tallied eight kills, eight digs and three blocks. Setter Katalin Minnerly had 43 assists, 10 digs and four kills, many of which came at pivotal times in the match.

Emily Corrigan led the Mountaineers with 18 kills to go along with seven digs, while Dalton Tolliver and Jess Keller each notched nine kills. Meghan Mahoney registered a match-high 21 digs.

The Eagles had 11 team blocks and tallied 64 digs to hold App to a .115 hitting percentage. GSU struggled a bit in serving, posting 19 errors, but the Mountaineers also had 14.

"We told them to turn it up a notch because App was passing so well and getting right into their offense," said Wood. "So I was okay with some of the errors, but it's obviously something we need to fix for tomorrow night."

With the match knotted 1-1 and the score tied 17-17 in the third, Georgia Southern ran off four straight points as Katie Bange ignited the run with a cross-court kill and was in on consecutive blocks to cap the spurt. A Coley kill and an App hitting error ran the margin to 24-19, and after the Eagles served it into the net, the Mountaineers' serve went out of bounds to end the set.

Clinging to a one-point lead in the fourth frame, DeRatt had three kills in a 5-1 Eagle run to make the score 24-19. The Mountaineers would not go quietly and scored four straight points to trim the margin to 24-23, but Minnerly set Bange for a cross-court kill to put the match away. 

"We were trying to go to Katie (Bange) on the right side, but they were forcing us to go elsewhere," said Wood. "We were making all the right reads and just kept at it until we got what we were looking for."

The Eagles fought off two set points to win the first frame 28-26. With the Eagles trailing 24-22, Minnerly fooled the Mountaineers with a dump over the net for a kill and Jeschelnik followed with a kill to tie the score. Jeschelnik broke a 26-26 tie later with a kill, and App's Paige Brown hit the net on an attack to end the set.

Trailing 24-23 in the second set, Minnerly had another dump for a kill to tie the score, but Corrigan and Tolliver put down consecutive balls for the Mountaineers to tie the match 1-1.

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