STATESBORO, Ga. – Eliza Zachary tallied 20 kills, two aces and five blocks to lead Georgia State to a 3-2 (25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 24-26, 15-11) Sun Belt Conference volleyball victory over Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Jamie DeRatt and Cathrine Murray each tallied 17 kills to lead Georgia Southern (7-18, 6-9), while Kym Coley added 13 kills, six digs and four blocks. Megan Chevalier finished with 12 kills, seven digs and three blocks, and Kat Minnerly recorded 49 assists and nine digs. Avery Stephens finished with a team-high 17 digs.

Deidra Bohannon and Kitan Ajanaku each posted 14 kills for Georgia State (8-15, 6-8), and Natalia Nieto collected 53 assists and 15 digs. Morgan Paterson added a match-high 19 digs.

The Eagles outhit the Panthers by a slim margin, but Georgia State took advantage of their serve, notching 13 aces. The Eagles were also whistled for six block errors in the match.

Georgia Southern faced match point at 24-23 in the fourth set, but Murray put down three straight kills to give the Eagles the set 26-24. Georgia State came right back in the fifth set and jumped out to a 10-3 lead. The Eagles used a 6-2 run, aided by kills by Murray and Chevalier and a block by Leah Joseph, to cut the margin to 12-9. 

Zachary halted the run with a kill, and Molly Shonk served her third ace of the match to make the score 14-9. The Eagles got two points in a row, but Zachary finished the match with a kill.

"I'm proud of them for coming back and the toughness that we demonstrated, but in the fifth set, some inexperience showed," said Georgia Southern coach Dustin Wood. "That was our first five-setter this year, and I think we'll learn from it."

The Eagles hit .184 in the first set while Georgia State hit .378 en route to taking the frame 25-20. Georgia Southern was much better offensively in the second set but the Panthers got off to a 6-1 lead. Trailing 24-21, Georgia Southern fought off two set points with consecutive kills by Murray before Zachary put down a ball to give the Panthers a 2-0 cushion in the match. Georgia State fought off two set points in the third before Zachary's attack went long.

"We were a little bit too much one dimensional, and I didn't think we passed too well," said Wood.  "But we stayed with it, kept it together and fought hard today."

Georgia Southern has a week off before traveling to long-time rival Appalachian State for a Sun Belt match Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.

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