State Tops Southern Volleyball in Five

Saturday, November 11

Atlanta, Ga.

6 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

8-21, 3-13

Georgia State

10-19, 4-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Georgia Southern	23	18	25	25	10	2
Georgia State	25	25	20	18	15	3

Photo by: AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics

11/11/2017 9:49:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Skylar Ball tallies 10 kills and nine blocks for Southern.

By: Marc Gignac

ATLANTA – Morgan Hash recorded 23 kills and hit .381, and Georgia State topped Georgia Southern 3-2 (25-23, 25-18, 20-25, 18-25, 15-10) in five sets for the second time in four days in Sun Belt Conference volleyball action at GSU Sports Arena Saturday night.

Lauren Reichard posted 13 kills and three blocks for Georgia Southern (8-21, 3-13), which sees its season come to a close. Megan Chevalier hit .391 in the match and posted 11 kills and three blocks, and Skylar Ball collected 10 kills and nine blocks.

Crystal Lee finished with 11 kills and nine digs for Georgia State (10-19, 4-12). Sydney Stroud had 11 kills, and Celeste Friesen had a match-high 28 digs.

State picks up half a point in the Southern vs. State Rivalry Series and now leads 6.5-0.5.

The story
State stymied Southern's momentum after the Eagles won two straight sets to push the match to five with an 8-3 run to start the frame. The Eagles responded by scoring five of the next seven points, including three kills by Reichard, to trim the margin to 10-8. Leading 11-9, the Panthers used a 4-1 run, capped by a Hash kill, to finish the set 15-10 and end the match.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, the Eagles fought hard to take the contest to five sets. After Lee trimmed a three-point Southern lead down to 20-19, the Eagles ran off the next four points with the help of a kill by Cathrine Murray and a block by Reichard and Chevalier. Reichard capped the 5-1 Southern run with a kill to give the Eagles the set.

Reichard had a block and a kill, and Chevalier added a kill as Southern turned a 10-8 deficit to a 13-8 lead by scoring five straight points in the fourth. A 3-0 Eagles run extended the lead to 19-14 after an ace by Brooke Birch, and Reichard, Chevalier and April Luther added kills late in the set, which the Eagles went on to win 25-18.

Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"It was a tough two weeks for us. We were playing better volleyball at the right time but couldn't finish sets when we were up and couldn't put a fifth set away in four straight Sun Belt matches. We were up 18-13 in the first and let it slip away. We fought back from being down 0-2 to force the fifth, but the aggressive play that we had in three and four left us in the fifth again."

"It was tough for our seniors, and I feel for them because of the hard work they put into the program. They are a special group to me. I will miss them dearly. This season does not define who they are as players and people. I am very fortunate to have worked with Chev, Cathrine and Anna. I have watched them grow as players and people. I'm proud of what kind of people they are, class acts!"

"Heading to our offseason we need to reevaluate certain positions and add the right players to our roster to win volleyball matches. We have to take a look at personnel we have and evaluate what changes we need to make and what future players that we have coming in to find the right mix to win. We were in position to win a lot of matches but need to find the players that have that winning mentality. The offseason will be tough, but we will work our butts off so we don't have this type of season next year."

Next Up
Seniors Murray, Chevalier and Anna Wenger wrap up their careers, and the Eagles return four starters and 14 letterwinners to the 2018 squad.

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