Seniors Lead Volleyball to 3-0 Sweep in Season Opener

Friday, August 27

Statesboro, Ga.

6:30 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

1-0,0-0Sun Belt

Presbyterian

0-1,0-0Big South

Presbyterian

Ga. Southern

Hannah McGlockton collected a career-high 17 kills.

Photo by: AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics

8/27/2021 9:30:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Eagles play two matches tomorrow in Hanner.

By: Marc Gignac

STATESBORO – Senior Hannah McGlockton tallied a career-high 17 kills, and Georgia Southern hit .342 as a team to post a 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-21) volleyball victory over Presbyterian in the season opener for both schools.

Eagles of the Match
McGlockton hit .400 for the match, putting down 17 balls on 30 swings. Senior Baylor Bumford tallied 10 kills, and classmate Christina Walton finished with five kills and three blocks.

Freshman Jillian Gray posted eight kills to go along with a team-high 15 digs, and rookie Robin Rosser collected eight kills and two blocks. Ashlyn Lovett and Paige Collins each had 11 digs in their collegiate debuts, and Rebekah Farthing also collected 11 digs. Grace Slader finished with 39 assists and eight digs.

Key Moments
Georgia Southern led the match 2-0 and held an early 12-3 cushion in the third set, but Presbyterian climbed back into it as a three-point run trimmed the margin to 22-20. McGlockton and Rosser tallied consecutive kills coming out of a timeout, and after an Eagle attempt went wide, McGlockton ended the match with a kill.

Stats of the Match
The Eagles held a 60-44 edge in digs and a 9-5 advantage in service aces.

Quotables from Coach Chad Willis
"I'm proud of our team tonight for picking up a season-opening win. From the very start, I thought we really established ourselves with first contact—both from the service line and in serve receive, which allowed us to stay pretty balanced offensively. Defensively, we stayed true to our system, kept ourselves in rallies and put a lot of pressure on Presbyterian to earn points. We told our group in the locker room, what stood out the most, was the energy on our side of the court—starting with the bench. We've talked a lot about our team-first mentality this preseason, and it was on full display tonight. We're excited to continue to watch this group work, grow and get better."

Next up
Georgia Southern faces MEAC preseason favorite Coppin State at 12:30 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse Saturday and battles Bethune-Cookman at 6:30 p.m. Action in the Bash in the Boro starts at 10 a.m. when Presbyterian takes on Bethune-Cookman.