Game: Georgia Southern (28-5, 13-3 SoCon) vs. No. 16 Florida State (24-7, 17-3 ACC)
Date/Time: Dec. 5 – 5 p.m.
Location: O'Connell Center – Gainesville, Fla.
Series Record: GSU trails 3-0

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For Openers
¦ Georgia Southern makes its fourth appearance in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship as the Eagles take on Florida State Thursday at 5 p.m. in the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
¦ Video of the match will be streamed live for free at GatorVision.tv.
¦ The winner of the match between the Eagles and Seminoles will move on to the second round Friday at 7 p.m. and face the winner of the match featuring the host Gators and Jacksonville.
¦ The Eagles are 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament, and their last appearance came in 2010 when they lost 3-1 to Florida State in the first round in Gainesville.
¦ GSU NCAA Tourney Results:
2001 - L, 3-0 to Pepperdine
2003 - L, 3-0 to Florida
2010 - L, 3-1 to Florida State
¦ Georgia Southern earned the Southern Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by defeating Samford 3-1 in Timmons Arena Nov. 24, in the league's tournament title game.
¦ Junior outside hitter Jamie DeRatt was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player while junior middle Kym Coley was named all-tournament for the second straight season and sophomore right side Katie Bange also earned all-tournament accolades.
¦ Georgia Southern has tied the school season record with 28 wins against five losses and has won 13 of its last 15 matches.
¦ The Eagles are led by a trio of all-conference selections in DeRatt and Coley and sophomore setter Katalin Minnerly.
¦ DeRatt is averaging 3.72 kills and 3.39 digs a set.
¦ Coley averages 2.59 kills a set and is hitting .383. The middle is also averaging 0.74 blocks a frame.
¦ Minnerly led the  SoCon in assists this season and is averaging 11.23 a set.
¦ The Eagles are 7-0 in neutral site matches this season.
¦ The Eagles are 0-3 against the Seminoles all-time with the last match coming in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Florida State also topped Georgia Southern 3-0 in 1990 and 3-0 in 1997.
¦ The Seminoles have won their last six matches and are coming off a 3-0 home win over Georgia Tech. Florida State has not lost a set since Nov. 13, when the Seminoles defeated Miami 3-1.
¦ Nicole Walch leads the team in kills with 3.52 kills per set and is hitting .275. Her sister, Elise Walch, averages 2.90 kills per set.
¦ Florida State leads the ACC and ranks 13th in the country in blocks and 17th hitting percentage.

Eagle Notes
¦ The Eagles finished the regular-season SoCon slate with a 13-3 record to win the league's regular-season title for the second consecutive season. It's the fourth SoCon regular-season championship for Georgia Southern.
¦ Georgia Southern reached the 20-win mark for the fourth season in the last five and the 11th time in program history.
¦ The Eagles have won 10 or more  SoCon matches in each of the last five seasons.
¦ Head coach Dustin Wood is the second GSU coach to lead the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament in their first season at the helm. Current UAB coach Kerry Messersmith led GSU to the 2001 NCAA Tournament in her first year.
¦ All three Georgia Southern seniors played in the 2010 NCAA Tournament match against Florida State in Gainesville. Lauren LaRocque had nine digs and a kill, and Enjoli Johnson posted five kills and four blocks. Nicole Jeschelnik tallied two kills and a block.
¦ Those three seniors have had their hands in 98 victories in their careers. That total is the most for a four-year class in school history.

Possible Opponent Series Histories
¦ Florida owns an all-time 2-0 record against Georgia Southern, and the first meeting between the schools was a 3-0 Gator victory in the 2003 NCAA Tournament. The Gators took a 3-0 win over GSU in their home tournament in the last meeting in 2007.
¦ Jacksonville owns a 17-11 mark against the Eagles in a series that dates back to 1985, the inaugural season of volleyball at Georgia Southern.
¦  The Eagles won the last meeting against Jacksonville 3-1 at home in 2012 and have won their last two matches against the Dolphins.

Georgia Southern Probable Starters
#1 Katalin Minnerly, So., S
#3 Crysten Curry, So., M
#6 Kym Coley, Jr., M
#8 Alexandra Beecher, So., L
#9 Jamie DeRatt, Jr., OH
#13 Katie Bange, So., RS
#14 Nicole Jeschelnik, Sr., OH