BOONE, N.C. – Reilly Bosworth posted a career-high 18 kills and six blocks to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-17, 22-25, 15-11) Sun Belt volleyball victory over Appalachian State Sunday afternoon in the Holmes Center.

Bosworth was one of four Eagles with double-figure kills. Lauren Reichard posted 12 kills and three blocks, and Cathrine Murray finished with 12 kills and 16 digs. Katie Bange tallied 10 kills and 39 assists, and Alex Beecher had 33 digs for Georgia Southern (13-17, 5-9).

Ashton Gregory logged 16 kills to lead Appalachian State (4-23, 2-13), and Melissa McMath added 12 kills and four blocks.

The story
Kills by Reichard, Bosworth and Stephanie Spencer helped the Eagles jump out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth set. GS went on to push the margin to 11-5 on a Bosworth kill. App trimmed the lead to 13-10, but Reichard recorded a pair of kills to end the match.

The Eagles recorded 86 digs and 10 team blocks to hold App to a .106 hitting percentage, including .041 combined in the second and third sets. Trailing 1-0 in the match, GS led by four points late in the second, but the Mountaineers stormed back and cut the margin to 23-22. Bange put down a kill to stop the run, and an App hitting error ended the set.
 
Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood 
"I'm so proud of the players rebounding tonight after a tough lost last night. We made changes to the offense to get our middles involved. Reilly (Bosworth) was amazing tonight. She outworked App State's middles, and they couldn't stop her. I'm so proud of that kid. She is a team player and had a breakout performance tonight."

"Katie (Bange) and Kendra (Koetter) did a great job tonight establishing the middle. It opened up the offense, and we could do what we wanted to do. Beecher came up with some clutch digs in the fifth set and carried the team defensively. We sided out at 80 percent in the fifth set. We pushed in the fifth set and controlled the set because we were aggressive and confident in our abilities." 

"It was nice to clinch tonight, but we are definitely looking to get a better seed the next two matches. We're looking forward to get home get some rest and taking on Georgia State in the rivalry matches."

Next up
The Eagles cap the regular season with a home-and-home series against Georgia State this week. Georgia Southern will travel to Atlanta Thursday and host the Panthers Saturday at 2 p.m. on Senior Day. 

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