STATESBORO – Baylor Bumford set a school record with 15 blocks and added eight kills to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-18, 26-24) Sun Belt Conference volleyball win over Troy Friday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Eagles of the Match
Maddie Bryant recorded 14 kills, 11 digs and four blocks as Georgia Southern (6-8, 1-2) posted 20 blocks as a team, three shy of the school four-set mark set at Troy last season.  Landon Jones registered 23 digs and four assists, and Madison Brown collected 36 assists, three aces, nine digs and three blocks.

Key stats
The Eagles held Troy (12-3, 2-1) to an .097 hitting percentage while converting 42 kills with just 13 errors on the other side of the net.

Key moments
Down 2-1 in the match, Troy scored the first five points of the fourth set and led 9-2 early. GS fought back to make the score 20-16 and then scored five straight points, taking its first lead of the set on a Brown ace. A Mya Wilson kill gave the Eagles match point at 24-23, but Ashley Guenveur answered with a Trojan kill. Bryant put a ball down for the Eagles, and Skylar Ball and Brown got together for a block to end the contest. 

Trailing 1-0 in the match, the Eagles used a 13-3 run to take control of the second set and led 19-9 after consecutive Carly Turner aces. Troy fought back and cut the margin to 23-21 on a kill by Cheyenne Hayes. Bumford answered with a kill for set point and after another Hayes kill, Bumford and Wilson combined for a block to tie the match 1-1. 

Quotables from head coach Chad Willis
"Troy is a good team - they've showed it and their record shows it - and we knew we were really going to have to control first contact tonight. First off, I thought we did an incredible job from the service line. Maybe a little more errors than I would like to see, but we pressured them early. We got them into a situation where they had to rely on both of their lefts, who are talented kids, but part of our game plan was to commit to them and 20 blocks as a team in four sets really shows that the game plan was executed well."

"We are thrilled and excited about the win, but more than anything I told them how proud I was of the composure we kept in that fourth set. We got down early, called an early timeout, and they stretched the lead more throughout the beginning of the set. Hats off to our kids. We talk about putting yourself back in the middle of the ring, and just keep punching and fighting and clawing, and they did that. We closed the gap in the middle of the set and got into a situation in the red zone at the end where we just needed to make some plays, and we did. I think that's a big step forward for us as a group."

Next up
GS plays host to South Alabama Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse. It's Georgia Southern's annual Dig Pink Match to support the fight against breast cancer.