STATESBORO– After setting the tone by hitting a sparkling .500 in the opening set, Georgia Southern volleyball (16-2, 6-1 SBC) hit above .320 in two of the next three sets to earn a pivotal four-set win over James Madison (10-9, 5-4), snapping the Dukes' five-game win streak.

"It was a great team win. I liked our toughness tonight," head coach Chad Willis said. "I thought we battled in the trenches, especially in the transition game. Offensively, we were pretty balanced. We had four, almost five kids in double-digit kills and hit .317 for the match. JMU is a talented offensive team too; they got on fire there a little bit in sets two and three, but I thought our serving pressure ramped up in set four and that's what created that stretch for us."

After losing the first point, the Eagles ran to a 9-4 advantage during Logan Jones' service, winning four straight points highlighted by a trio of Dukes errors. The home team stretched its advantage to 17-8 on a Reagan Barth ace.

The Eagles never relented in the opening frame. Maggie Sale punctuated it with a kill to win 25-12 as the Eagles hit .500 (14-2-24) to earn the win.

GS never recovered from an early 5-0 run by the Dukes in the second set despite pulling to within one at 20-19. Jillian Gray did record back-to-back kills at set point to make it 24-23, but JMU pulled the set out 25-23.

Tied at 14 in the third, Kirsten Barrett's sinking ace made it three of the next four points for the Eagles to grab the lead. JMU stormed back to take a 23-22 lead, but GS sided out and went on a 3-0 run to win with Barth's kill shutting it down.

Four Eagle kills and a block highlighted a 7-0 run in the fourth and ultimately final set, going up 12-6 early and running away with it. Gray ended the set and game with her 12th kill of the match.

Four Eagles finished in double digits in kills and four hit above .300 on 10 or more attempts. Paige Powers (14-4-28, .357) led the way, with Gray (12), Barth (12-3-29, .310), Sale (11-2-24, .375) all reaching 10 or more. Lydia Seymour (9-1-19, .421) also was right behind.

"It's awesome [having an offense] like this," Powers said. "It makes everyone's job easier because if I have moments where I slack, I know it's going to be picked up on the other end. That's just the definition of teamwork and what defines our team as a whole."

Ashlyn Lovett had 21 digs to lead the team, while Barth (16) and Gray (13) recorded double-doubles. Barth became the first Eagle since the 2022 season to record three consecutive double-doubles.

Seymour's four blocks were tops on the team, and Barrett tied a season-high with 45 assists - making it three of the last four over 40 assists.

Willis surpassed J.B. Claiborne for third all-time with his 84th career win, and Barrett moved to within 23 assists of tenth place on the all-time assists list. It was the eighth-highest attended match (758) in school history and the second-highest of the season.

The Eagles snapped the Dukes' five-game winning streak and earned their first-ever win over JMU since they joined the Sun Belt in 2022 - winning for the eleventh consecutive time at home.

"We talk about who we are and what we strive to be, and JMU certainly has been one of the darlings of the Sun Belt since they joined three years ago," Willis said. "For our group to see the fruit of our labor and the time, energy and effort that we put in, becoming a team that can compete with a solid program like they are, I think it speaks volumes just to where we are, not just talent-wise, but also culture-wise."

Georgia Southern can remain in the driver's seat in the conference with another matchup tomorrow against the Dukes at 1:00.