Volleyball Preview: Eagles Start Sun Belt Play Friday

Friday, September 27

Conway, S.C.

6:30 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

Coastal Carolina

Haley Fuller and the Eagles open conference play this weekend.

Photo by: AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics

9/26/2019 10:18:00 AM | Volleyball

GS makes its Sun Belt swing through the Carolinas this weekend.

By: Marc Gignac

Ga. Southern (5-6, 0-0) vs. Coastal Carolina (10-2, 0-0) Date: Sept. 27 - 6:30 p.m. - HTC Center Series: GS trails 15-2, L7		Ga. Southern (5-6, 0-0) vs. App. State (4-9, 0-0) Date: Sept. 29 - 12:30 p.m. - Holmes Center TV: ESPN3 Series: GS trails 36-16, L4
Live video \| Live stats		Live video \| Live stats

Georgia Southern	Coastal Carolina	Appalachian State
Roster	Roster	Roster
Stats	Stats	Stats
Schedule	Schedule	Schedule

Probable GS Lineup:
#4 Skylar Ball
#7 Mya Wilson
#10 Maddie Bryant
#11 Carly Turner
#13 Baylor Bumford
#18 Madison Brown
#22 Landon Jones

Georgia Southern opens Sun Belt Conference play with its annual Carolina swing. The Eagles take on Coastal Carolina Friday before facing Appalachian State Sunday.

GS is coming off a 1-2 weekend at the Tennessee Classic, where the Eagles topped North Dakota State 3-0 and lost 3-0 to Tennessee and 3-2 to ETSU.

Landon Jones was named all-tournament after averaging 5.72 digs a set for the weekend. The junior collected a career-high 36 digs against ETSU, the most for an Eagle since Alex Beecher had 36 against Little Rock Oct. 29, 2016, in a five-set match in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Madison Brown ranks fourth in the Sun Belt in assists (9.69 per set), and Maddie Bryant ranks seventh in kills (3.18 per set). The Eagles rank sixth in hitting percentage as a team (.206) after finishing 11th in the conference in 2018 and eighth in each of the previous two seasons.

The favorites to win the Sun Belt East Division, Coastal Carolina enters the contest with a 10-2 record and is coming off a 1-2 weekend at the CY-Hawk Series in Iowa City, Iowa. The Chanticleers are 15-2 all-time against the Eagles and have won all seven matches since joing the Sun Belt in 2016.

Appalachian State was picked second in the East Division, enters conference play with a 4-9 record and has lost its last two matches. The Mountaineers are 36-16 all-time against the Eagles, have won the last four meetings and are 9-1 against GS since both schools joined the Sun Belt in 2014. First-year Georgia Southern head coach Chad Willis and assistant coach Taylor Sherwin came to Statesboro from Appalachian State. Willis spent six seasons there, during which Appalachian State posted 100 wins, notched 20-plus victories three times, advanced to the Sun Belt championship twice and earned a bid to the 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championship. Sherwin was an assistant coach for the last three campaigns.

Following the weekend, GS plays its first home Sun Belt matches of the season when the Eagles welcome Troy and South Alabama to Hanner Fieldhouse.