STATESBORO – Megan Chevalier and
Lauren Reichard each pounded down 11 kills, and Georgia Southern won its third straight match, a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-22) Sun Belt decision over Troy in Trojan Arena Friday night.
Reichard added seven blocks and an ace and hit .625 for the Eagles (5-8, 2-1), while Chevalier hit .526 and added two blocks.
April Luther finished with 32 assists and three digs.
Jenni Young posted 14 kills to lead Troy (5-12, 0-3), and Savannah Moore tallied eight kills and three blocks.
The story
The Eagles hit over .300 for the second consecutive match, clocking in with a season-high .338. GS also notched 11 blocks as a team and held Troy to .188 hitting.
Troy led the first set by four points early, but with the score tied 19-19 late in the frame, Chevalier scored with a kill and Reichard followed with a block to open a 21-19 lead. The Eagles pushed the margin to 24-21, and
Casey McColl finished the set with an ace.
The second and third sets went down to the wire as well. With the score tied 21-21 in the second, Chevalier put down a kill, and
Skylar Ball combined with
Anna Wenger for a block and followed it with a kill for set point. After Troy scored a point, Chevalier finished the set with a kill.
The Eagles broke a 20-20 tie with four straight points in the third set as Reichard served an ace, and Ball and Luther combined for a block. Troy cut the lead to 24-22 before serving into the net to end the match.
Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"It was a great win tonight for us. We had some great performances by our players, and we led in every statistical area. Lauren (Reichard) and Chev (
Megan Chevalier) led the way offensively with double digit kills in three sets hitting .625 and .526 respectively. Those numbers are outstanding."
"April did a great job in finding the hot hand tonight, and the hitting percentage reflected the offense she ran.
What really helped our offensive production was our passing, led by Brooke (Birch) Joscelin (Morrow) and Cathrine (Murray). They were dialed, and their numbers were phenomenal. Our offense starts with them. They did their job."
"We also blocked well tonight, but I believe we can pick our defense up more. We left some opportunities out there with lack of execution."
"Overall, I'm really pleased with all the hard work and preparation that the players put in this week. I'm proud of my staff too for getting them prepared for this weekend. We will enjoy our ride tonight to Mobile and look forward to a tough match tomorrow night. It should be a good one."
Next up
Georgia Southern stays on the road to take on South Alabama tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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