STATESBORO, Ga. – Megan Chevalier registered 12 kills, and Georgia Southern held Troy to .059 hitting for the match to record a 3-1 (29-31, 25-16, 25-11, 28-26) Sun Belt Conference volleyball victory over the Trojans Friday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

The Eagles will host the Sun Belt Conference Championship in Hanner Fieldhouse next weekend. Georgia Southern is the eighth seed and will play top-seeded Arkansas State Friday at a time to be determined.

Alex Beecher, who became Georgia Southern's all-time digs leader last Saturday, led the defensive effort with 23 digs in the match. Lauren Reichard had nine kills and four blocks, and Stephanie Spencer added eight kills for the Eagles (10-18, 5-11). Katie Bange registered 35 assists, nine digs and five kills, and Cathrine Murray collected 11 kills. It was Senior Night, and Georgia Southern honored seniors Bernetta Moore, Kat Minnerly and Crysten Curry before the match.

Blair Winston tallied 12 kills and 11 digs to lead Troy (14-17, 7-9), and Sara Landis posted nine kills. Symone Shaw finished with eight kills, and Ali Dowdall had 19 digs.
 

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The story
The first and last sets of the match went into extra points and featured a combined 14 ties and seven lead changes. Leading the match 2-1 but trailing 22-18 in the fourth set, the Eagles used a 5-1 spurt, keyed by a pair of kills by Cathrine Murray, to tie the score 23-23. There were three lead changes and three ties from there, and an attack error by the Trojans gave the Eagles their second match point. Crysten Curry, who was playing in her final regular-season home match, served up an ace for the victory. The Eagles rallied from an 18-10 deficit in the first set, and a kill by Bange off a Beecher assist made the score 20-18 in favor of the Trojans. Troy scored four of the next six points, but the Eagles fought off three straight set points to tie the score 24-24. There were four ties and two lead changes as the teams went back and forth from there until an Eagle attack error gave the Trojans a 30-29 lead. Winston followed it with a kill to give Troy the 31-29 win. Georgia Southern held Troy to negative hitting percentages in each of the next two sets to open a 2-1 lead in the match.
 

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Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"We're working on the right things and getting better and better each week. I think we just have to clean up a few things. We're almost there. We're not there yet, but we have one more week. We have to put it all together next Friday."
 

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Next Up
The Eagles make their first appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Championship next Friday, Nov. 20. This year's championship will be played in Hanner Fieldhouse Nov. 20-22. The top-8 teams in the regular season make the field and will battle it out for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting GSEagles.com/SBCVBall. Passes for the entire tournament are available for just $25 for adults and $10 for youth 12-and-under. Single-day passes can be purchased for $10 (adults) or $5 (youth), and students at all Sun Belt Conference schools gain free admission.

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, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by visiting GSEagles.com/tickets.