TROY, Ala. – Lauren Reichard and Katie Bange each tallied 13 kills, and Georgia Southern overcame a 2-0 deficit to top Troy 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-11) in Sun Belt volleyball action Friday night in Trojan Arena.

Bange added 20 assists and seven digs, and Reichard tallied eight blocks for Georgia Southern (11-9, 4-1), which won its fourth consecutive match. Cathrine Murray collected 12 kills and 19 digs, Megan Chevalier had 10 kills and three blocks and Stephanie Spencer recorded nine kills, 12 digs and five blocks. 

Kendra Koetter tallied her fourth straight double-double with 17 assists and 21 digs, and Alex Beecher finished with 19 digs.

Logan Page had 13 kills, and Sara Landis posted 12 kills and three blocks for Troy (6-17, 0-6) in the back-and-forth affair that was decided by a grand total of 12 points.

The Eagles had not played a match since topping Troy 3-0 in Hanner Fieldhouse Oct. 1, as Hurricane Matthew forced the postponement of two Georgia Southern matches last week.

The story
The score was tied 11-11 in the fifth when the Eagles ran off the final four points of the match, including three during the serve of freshman Kelsey Meins. Reichard put down a kill for a sideout, Murray got a kill off a Troy overpass and Meins delivered an ace to make it match point. Troy was able to dig up the next serve but the attack attempt went out of bounds to give the Eagles the 3-2 victory. 

With the score tied 21-21 in the fourth, Reichard and Spencer put down consecutive kills to put the Eagles ahead by two. Troy scored the next two points, but a Trojan service error gave GS set point. Bange scored a kill off a Koetter assist to push the match to a fifth set.

The score was tied 23-23 in the third when Troy was whistled for a ball-handling error to make it set point. GS brought in Meins to serve, and the freshman delivered with an ace to extend the match.

Quotable from coach Dustin Wood
"That was a crazy match tonight. Troy is a very hard place to play, and we finally got our first win in that arena. They had an electric crowd, and it was a great environment. They played so well tonight and pushed us to the end. They were a completely different team than we played 12 days ago."

"We played well at times tonight. Our decision making was suspect at times in directing our offense. We hung in there and found a way. I'm so proud of our kids to fight back from two sets down. We found a way to win tonight, which is the most important thing. I've always told our kids that we need to come back from two sets down to show what type of character we have. They did that tonight. They learned so much about themselves."

"Lauren Reichard put the entire team on her shoulders tonight. She was amazing. She made big plays in key moments again and again. She has those intangible things that you can't coach. She's a gamer!"

"I'm so proud of this group. We have a big match tomorrow, and I'm sure we will fix the things we struggled with tonight. We look forward to competing tomorrow to try to keep our winning streak going. It will be a tough test but we are up for the challenge."

Next up
The Eagles travel to South Alabama for a 7:30 p.m. ET Sun Belt contest Saturday.

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