ATLANTA – Alex Beecher notched 36 digs to set a new Georgia Southern career record, and the Eagles came back to top Georgia State 3-2 (19-25, 26-24, 24-26, 25-16, 16-14) in Sun Belt Conference volleyball action Saturday night in GSU Sports Arena.

With the win, the Eagles have added a half point for their school to in the Georgia Southern-Georgia State Rivalry Series. The score for the series is now Georgia Southern 2 and Georgia State 2. To view the results and scoring in this new competition, visit GSEagles.com/RivalrySeries.

Beecher's 36 digs give her 1,709 for her career, which is a new Georgia Southern record. Megan Lippi was the all-time leader with 1,707 from 2000-03. 

Cathrine Murray posted 18 kills and seven digs for Georgia Southern (9-18, 4-11), and Hannah Braun finished with career highs of 14 kills and five blocks. Megan Chevalier tallied 12 kills and three blocks, while Katie Bange contributed 46 assists, seven kills, six digs and three blocks. Kat Minnerly added 19 digs, and Bernetta Moore tallied 13.

Deidra Bohannon collected 18 kills, 16 digs and three blocks for Georgia State (6-18, 2-12), and Kristina Stinson posted 12 kills, 15 digs and two blocks. Sarah Renner had 50 assists and 11 digs, and Gabby Serafin finished with 26 digs.
 

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The story
Georgia Southern battled back from a 2-1 deficit in the match. After falling 26-24 in the third set, the Eagles hit .275 in the fourth en route to a 25-16 win. Southern trailed 6-3 in the fifth but scored three straight points on a kill by Stephanie Spencer, a kill by Braun and an ace by Moore. The set saw eight ties and three lead changes from there. With the score tied 14-14, Murray put down two straight kills to give Southern the win. Down 1-0 in the match and 23-21 in the second set, the Eagles scored three straight points with the last two coming on a Chevalier kill and a block by Spencer and Braun. Stinson tied the score with a kill, but the Eagles got the next point on a Panther attack error and Spencer tied the match 1-1 with a kill. Georgia Southern almost repeated the feat in the third set. Down 22-18, the Eagles ran off five straight, capped by a kill and then consecutive service aces by Chevalier before a Panther hitting error gave Southern a 23-22 lead. The Eagles had set point at 24-23, but State made a three-point run to take the set 26-24 and a 2-1 lead in the match. Two of the Panthers' points during the stretch came off Eagle hitting errors.
 

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Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"I'm very proud of our team tonight; it was a great team effort. We fell down early in the fifth but never lost our composure. We battled back and forth with them and came up big on big points. We adjusted really well after the first set, and we fought hard in the third set but came up short. We found a strong server in (Megan) Chevalier tonight. We let her go back on the serving line, and she was ripping jump serves and made key runs in the match. We're looking forward to getting better in the next two weeks to be playing our best volleyball on Nov. 20, when the tournament starts in Hanner."
 

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Next Up
The Eagles play their regular-season finale Nov. 13 against Troy on Senior Day. First serve is set for 5 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse.
 

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Sun Belt Conference Tourney
Georgia Southern will host the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hanner Fieldhouse Nov. 20-22. 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.