STATESBORO – Ina Gosen tallied 15 kills and six blocks to lead ULM to a 3-2 (19-25, 27-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-11) Sun Belt volleyball win over Georgia Southern Thursday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Eagles of the Match
Carly Turner finished the match with 16 kills, nine digs and three blocks, and
Haley Fuller posted 11 kills and nine digs for Georgia Southern (6-12, 1-6).
Key Plays
With the score tied 6-6 in the fifth, ULM (10-12, 1-6) broke it open with five straight points. After Mikaela Worley got a kill and assisted on a block, ULM libero Madeline Hogan got a kill after she dug a ball up off an Eagle block, and the ball went over the net and back into Georgia Southern's court for a point. Turner was whistled for a block error on the next play, pushing the ULM lead to 10-6.
The Eagles led the match 2-1 and were ahead 18-16 in the fourth, but the Warhawks took the set with a 9-1 run, which included consecutive aces by Chloe Carenza.
Key Stats
The match featured 30 ties and 11 lead changes. It was the third five-set match the Eagles have lost this season.
Quotable from Coach Chad Willis
On the difference in the match
"I think it was the tale end of that fourth set. We were in a pretty good spot - I think we were up 19-18 - we had a great serve, got exactly what we wanted and couldn't put the overpass away. Then we had two reception errors so that was a good example of a three-point run where we didn't control what we needed to on first contact. That got us a little tight and gave ULM a little momentum and credit to them, they kept working and getting at us and we sort of ran out of gas."
On struggling to finish sets
"I think that's still part of the mentality we're trying to change. We're not in a spot where we can take plays off. We have to work hard every single play, work hard every single rep. You've put yourself in a position to be there, now you just have to close out a set. A lot of that is due to our youth on the court, and we'll continue to work on that and get better."
Next Up
The Eagles play host to Louisiana Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse.
