STATESBORO, Ga. – Katie Bange tallied her sixth triple-double of the season with 18 kills, 10 digs and 18 assists to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-2 (25-17, 14-25, 26-24, 22-25, 16-14) Sun Belt Conference volleyball victory over South Alabama Friday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Lauren Reichard added 11 kills and eight blocks, and Kendra Koetter finished with 31 assists and 18 digs for Georgia Southern (9-9, 2-1). Stephanie Spencer tallied nine kills and 11 digs, and Alex Beecher finished with a match-high 23 digs.

Kelley Hartman posted 11 kills and nine blocks to lead South Alabama (9-7, 0-3), and Iva Durdanovic posted 10 kills, eight digs and four blocks.

The story
Georgia Southern used an 8-1 run, keyed by a pair of Megan Chevalier kills, to open a 13-6 lead in the fifth set. South Alabama got a sideout and brought in Deanna Canfield off the bench to serve. The Jaguars won the next five points and trimmed the margin to 13-12 on a kill by Mechell Daniel. 

The Eagles pushed to match point on a Cathrine Murray kill, but South Alabama won the next two points to tie the score 14-14. Spencer answered with two straight kills to end the match and give the Eagles the win.  

The Eagles started the match on fire and hit .517 in the first set while cruising to a 25-17 win. Fourteen errors in the second set hurt GS, and the Eagles hit minus-.200 as South Alabama tied the match.

Georgia Southern was down 20-14 in the third but chipped away and tied the score 23-23 on a kill by Reichard. After the teams traded points, Bange notched consecutive kills to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead in the match.

Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"We got up 8-4 in the fifth and 13-6, but they wouldn't go away. We did a great job of getting to 13, but we have to do a better job of finishing to 15. The good thing is that we found a way. We'll take it and learn from it and move on from there."

"We played well at times, especially that first set, and then we made some errors and stopped doing what was working. That's a decision our kids have to make - to continue doing what is working instead of trying to do too much."

Next up
The Eagles host Troy Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse.

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