PREVIEW: Eagles Open Home Volleyball Slate with GATA Challenge Friday

Friday, September 4

Statesboro, Ga.

6 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

Prairie View A&M

PREVIEW: Eagles Open Home Volleyball Slate with GATA Challenge Friday

9/3/2026 12:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Watch (ESPN+)Live Stats Game Notes (PDF)

STATESBORO – Georgia Southern volleyball competes inside the friendly confines of Hanner Fieldhouse for the first time this season hosting the GATA Challenge and welcoming Prairie View A&M, Radford, and Eastern Kentucky. The Eagles open the tournament on Friday evening facing off against Prairie View A&M at 6 p.m. and will broadcast live on ESPN+.

FIRST SERVE

Eighth year head coach Chad Willis enters the 2026 season seeking to become the all-time wins leader at Georgia Southern. During his time at the helm of the Eagles, Willis has amassed 109 victories in Statesboro and will begin the hunt toward the top spot held by Kerry Messersmith who recorded 116.
On Friday evening at the Bankoh Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center, Georgia Southern volleyball played in front of the largest crowd in program history against host Hawaii. The Rainbow Wahine welcomed a new era of volleyball to the floor, as head coach Joshua Walker returned to his alma mater to lead the Wahine volleyball program. Opening night at the arena saw 5,542 people watch the two teams compete, surpassing the previous most of 4,804 who watched Georgia Southern and Arkansas State battle it out at Minnesota on Aug. 31, 2018.
Welcome to the GATA Challenge hosted on the campus of Georgia Southern University at Hanner Fieldhouse. After a strong showing in Hawaii, the Eagles look to secure their first victory of the 2026 season, dropping all three matches in Honolulu, 3-1, to three prestigious volleyball programs. Georgia Southern welcomes Prairie View A&M, Radford, and Eastern Kentucky to Statesboro for the first of two annual tournaments.
First year setter, Bella Ekeler, made her collegiate debut on opening night against host Hawaii, starting for the Eagles and put the ball in play for the match at the service line. Ekeler posted 16 assists in her first action, adding eight digs and served 16 times throughout the course of her debut match. She followed up that performance with her first collegiate double-double, producing 17 assists and 10 digs in match two against San Diego. In the weekend finale, the Knoxville, Tennessee, native collected a career high 20 assists, while adding her first two career service aces.
Second year middle blocker Amelia Robinson made her collegiate debut on Sunday afternoon in Hawaii against top-25 Baylor. Robinson subbed onto the court in the third set, helping guide the Eagles to a 25-23 win, improving their record to 3-0 in third sets this season. The Llano, Texas, native registered her first two career kills, hitting .667 in her three attempts. She produced 2.5 points for the Eagles and assisted on a block.
Georgia Southern volleyball has grown since the end of the 2025 season, adding three new additions to the roster through the portal and signing day. All three Eagles were on campus and went through spring and summer workouts, as Beka Pfefferkorn, Grace Thomas, and Bella Ekeler (early enrollee) have trained with the Eagles since January. Pfefferkorn arrived in Statesboro following her first season at FIU. The Cypress, Texas, native appeared in 103 sets over 30 matches for the Panthers, tallying a career best 18 kills against Stetson. Thomas competed at Central Michigan for two seasons, before joining the Eagles this season. The Dublin, Ohio, native produced 205 total kills and 69 blocks in her second year with the Chippewa's, earning Academic All-MAC honors, as well as CSC All-District nods. Thomas earned a spot on the MAC All-Freshman team her first year, while being named a second team All-MAC recipient. The final Eagle to join the nest for the 2026 season, Ekeler was an early enrollee as a freshman. In her prep days, Ekeler competed for Farragut High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, earning two-time District Setter of the Year honors and 2024 District MVP and Tournament MVP. She was named the 2024 Knox News Player of the Year and 2024 5 Star Preps Player of the Year. A talented young star whose family holds a rich lineage of success, Ekeler's father, Mike, played football at Kansas State and is in his 27th season coaching football, including 23 years at the FBS level and 21 years at a Power 4 University. He has coached in every power conference, while serving on staff at six of the 12 winningest programs in college football history (Oklahoma, Nebraska, Georgia, Tennessee, USC, and LSU).
A duo of Georgia Southern volleyball student-athletes was named to the Sun Belt Preseason Award list, as the Eagles were tabbed to finish second in the preseason poll behind James Madison in the East Division. Third year Maddie Cugino was named the Sun Belt Preseason Libero of the Year, while fourth year Reagan Barth earned a spot of the All-Sun Belt Team. Cugino, a native of Columbus, Ohio, made an immediate impact as the Libero for the Eagles in her first season in Statesboro. She earned a third team All-Sun Belt honor and claimed a Defensive Player of the Week award throughout the 2025 season. She led the team defensively with 485 digs (4.80 per set) and ranked second in the league, while finished 22nd nationally in that category. She tallied a career high 36 digs on Oct. 10 at Troy and registered 25 matches of double-digit digs. Cugino recorded 20-plus digs in nine matches, adding 99 assists and 17 service aces. Barth, a three-time All-Sun Belt recipient, enters her fourth season with the Eagles after producing the fifth most kills in Georgia Southern volleyball history (1,159). Her efforts collected her an AVCA first team All-Region award and she was named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week twice. Barth played in all 28 matches and 104 sets for the Eagles, accumulating a total of 450 kills, 30 set assists, and 28 service aces in 28 games. She contributed 270 digs, 10 solo blocks, and total of 45 blocks throughout the year, while adding a season-high 37 kills against Louisiana, one shy of the school record registered as one of the top single-game performances in D1 and Sun Belt history. Barth ranked ninth in D1 in attacks per set (12.25), 34th in kills per set (4.33), and 31st in points per set (4.86), adding 23 matches of double-digit kills.