LAFAYETTE, La. – Katie Bange recorded her fifth triple-double of the season with a career high 23 kills, 31 assists and 25 digs to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-2 (25-11, 25-21, 28-30, 22-25, 23-21) Sun Belt Conference volleyball victory over UL Lafayette Saturday night.

Bange also recorded six blocks for Georgia Southern (8-9, 1-1), which won its first league match of the season. Lauren Reichard posted 14 kills and seven blocks, and Megan Chevalier had 16 kills. Cathrine Murray finished with 12 kills and 18 digs, and Alex Beecher tallied 29 digs. 

Stacey Reilly tallied 26 kills, nine digs and two blocks for UL Lafayette (4-12, 1-1), and Chloe Cordell had 13 kills. Nia Antoine finished with 11 kills.

The story
The Eagles trailed 13-11 and fought off three match points to earn a 23-21 win in the epic fifth set. With the score tied 21-21, Chevalier put down a kill for the Eagles and Beecher served up an ace for the victory.

Georgia Southern hit .271 for the match and .405 in the fifth set. The Eagles had just six hitting errors in the first and last sets combined.

After ULL tied the score 21-21 in the second set, the Eagles ran off the next four points on four kills to open a 2-0 lead in the match. Reilly Bosworth put down the first ball, Stephanie Spencer logged the next two kills and Chevalier finished off the set.

GS was ahead 21-17 in the third set, but ULL scored four straight and went on to fight off two match points before Dree'Ana Abram put down a kill and Antoine finished the set off with a block to cut the lead in the match to 2-1.

Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"I'm proud of our group tonight on how they bounced back from a poor performance and played well and found a way to win in a tight, well-played match from both sides."

"Our offense was clicking tonight. Our setters directed our offense efficiently especially in set five, where we sided out at 81 percent. Our outsides and Beecher passed really well again. Chev (Chevalier) was terminating the ball, and Kendra (Koetter) put all of our hitters in good positions, especially our middles, to score points.
Katie Bange was lights out tonight. It was unbelievable. I'm so proud of her and the team."

"We kept our cool and confidence in the fifth set despite being down 13-11. Kelsey Meins made a clutch dig, and we put the ball away. We battled back and forth in the extra points, and we finally saw the confidence in our group tonight. I'm so proud of our players, and our staff did an awesome job in preparing and making adjustments. It was a total team effort." 

"We are looking forward to getting home and playing our first two conference matches next weekend in Hanner. We are hoping our crowd is back and loud, which really helps the team."

Next up
The Eagles open a four-match homestand Friday when they take on South Alabama at 6:30 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse. GS hosts Troy Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

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