Volleyball | 11/15/2015 6:00:00 PM

Championship Central

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern will make its first appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship next Friday, Nov. 20, and the eighth-seeded Eagles will take on top-seed Arkansas State at 7:30 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse. 

This year's championship will be played in Hanner Fieldhouse Nov. 20-22, as the top-8 Sun Belt teams will compete for the title and a berth into the 2015 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship.

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. All seven matches of the single-elimination tournament will be broadcast live on ESPN3, and fans can also follow along via Twitter (@SunBelt) or through live stats, also available at the Sun Belt website.

Georgia Southern is hosting its league volleyball tournament for the first time since 2005. Four quarterfinal matches will be played Friday, Nov. 20, starting at noon and the semifinal matches will be played Saturday, Nov. 21, at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The championship contest will be held Sunday, Nov. 22, at 1 p.m.

Arkansas State wrapped up an undefeated Sun Belt season with a sweep of Appalachian State on Thursday, and the win over the Mountaineers extended the Red Wolves' nation-best winning streak to 21 matches and puts the team at 25-1 on the year with an undefeated conference mark of 16-0.

Georgia Southern enters the tournament on a two-match win streak and is coming off a 3-1 victory over Troy Friday night. The Eagles are led by junior libero Alex Beecher, who became the school's all-time leader in digs recently and is 30 away from breaking her own school single season mark of 604, set in 2012.

2015 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship Seeds
1. Arkansas State (25-1, 16-0 Sun Belt)
2. Appalachian State (20-7, 13-3 Sun Belt)
3. Texas State (18-11, 13-3 Sun Belt)
4. UT Arlington (19-9, 10-6 Sun Belt)
5. Little Rock (13-13, 9-7 Sun Belt)
6. South Alabama (13-14, 7-9 Sun Belt)
7. Troy (14-17, 7-9 Sun Belt)
8. Georgia Southern (10-18, 5-11 Sun Belt)
 
2015 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship Schedule
Friday, November 20 (First Round)
M1 - 12 p.m. ET – No. 7 Troy vs. No. 2 Appalachian State
M2 – 2:30 p.m. ET – No. 6 South Alabama vs. No. 3 Texas State
M3 - 5 p.m. ET – No. 5 Little Rock vs. No. 4 UT Arlington
M4 – 7:30 p.m. ET – No. 8 Georgia Southern vs. No. 1 Arkansas State
 
Saturday, November 21 (Semifinals)
M5 – 4 p.m. ET – Match 1 Winner vs. Match 2 Winner
M6 – 6:30 p.m. ET – Match 3 Winner vs. Match 4 Winner
 
Sunday, November 22 (Championship Match)
M7 - 1 p.m. ET – Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner

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 calling 1-800-GSU-WINS or by visiting GSEagles.com.