ATHENS, Ga.– Georgia Southern volleyball (7-0) rallied from being down big in the final two sets and swept FIU (3-4) in the first matchup of the Bulldog Classic at Stegeman Coliseum.

"That's a tough win against a good opponent," head coach Chad Willis said. "In that second and third set, we found ourselves in some pretty big holes, and the resiliency and poise of this group to stay dialed in on our side was impressive."

A Lydia Seymour and Reagan Barth combined block made it a 4-2 lead early on. Both teams battled for the next several points, but the Eagles ran away late. Alex Myers slammed a kill and made it 15-10 at the media timeout.

After Sam Bowron made it 23-16 on a kill, the Panthers went on a small run but served up a pair of errors, ultimately giving the first frame to the Eagles at 25-19. The Eagles hit an even .300 in the opening stanza. 

Despite going up 3-1 on a Maddie Cugino ace early, the blue & white faltered and fell behind as much as five points in the set. Trailing 21-17 and 23-21, the Eagles kicked into another gear, ending the set on a clutch 5-1 run. Lydia Seymour had a pair of kills and a block to highlight that stretch.

FIU once again stormed to a big advantage in the third set, hoping to get back in it. Leading 18-11, the Eagles bent but did not break, going on an unconscious 14-2 run over the last 16 points to stun the Panthers 25-20. 

Maggie Sale had four kills during this stretch to lead the team in its fifth consecutive sweep of the season. She tied her career-high with 12 while Bowron led the way with a career-best 13.

"When KB puts us in good situations, we can all execute and put it away," Sale said. "That was our mentality today - just put it away and get it done."

Seymour also had a strong night, hitting .615 (9-1-13) to round out the trio. Kirsten Barrett had a double-double of 35 assists and 11 digs, becoming the eighth Eagle to surpass 2,000 career assists. Barth (12) and Mayte Camacho (10) joined her with double-digit digs.

The Eagles are now off to their best undefeated start in program history at 7-0 and have swept five consecutive opponents.

GS plays the host team, Georgia, for the first time since 2015 on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

"Everything is right in front of us, we know what the expectations are," Willis said. "We're on the road in a true road environment against a good SEC opponent, and I expect our group to be fired up to go. We know what's in front of us. We're going to play a tough serving team, and they're going to be physical from that. We're going to have to be dialed into all areas of our game in order to pick off the upset."