ATLANTA--A trio of Panthers recorded a double-double as the Georgia State volleyball team snapped a seven-match losing streak with a 3-1 (30-23, 30-21, 29-31, 30-24) victory over Mercer at the Sports Arena Tuesday evening.
"We really started to play much better as a team last weekend even though the results didn't show it," said Georgia State head coach Mike Webster. "I believe we did a good job of continuing that play for the most part tonight, and the result finally changed for us."
Amy Lusk had a match-high 19 kills and 17 digs as the Panthers dominated most of the major statistical categories. State had 66 kills as a team, with redshirt junior Ana Paula Ferreira, sophomore Leah Tenney, and freshman Michelle Trimble each recording 13. Trimble completed her second consecutive double-double with 10 digs, while freshman Noelle Boyd continued improving at the setter's spot with 52 assists and 10 digs.
State (7-15) earned 86 of its 119 points scored in the match without the benefit of a Mercer miscue. The Panthers doubled-up Mercer in service aces by a 14-7 margin, with junior Jordan Thomas setting a new career high with six.
"We did a solid job early with our service game, but we struggled at key points in game three," commented Coach Webster as the Panthers committed four service errors in that game while Mercer scored four of their aces.
The Panthers came out of the box flying in game one as after a tie at 7-all, State went on a 7-0 run and would not be challenged the rest of the game. The Panthers were the beneficiaries of three service aces by Trimble during the run. State would lead by as many as 10, but up just 28-23, a kill by Tenney and a Mercer ball handling error gave the Panthers the game one win.
Game two saw the Panthers trailing 10-9 before a 5-0 spurt gave State a lead it would not relinquish. Up 27-21, the service game loomed large again as a Bears service error and back-to-back aces for Thomas gave State the 30-21 margin of victory.
The tightest game of the match was the third, as the Panthers squandered a chance to end the match and instead, Mercer (8-15) came back to enable the match to continue. Off a timeout with State leading 29-28, a block, an ace, and a kill gave the Bears three consecutive points and a 31-29 win.
While the third game was close, the final game was all State, as the Panthers won the first two points and never trailed. State led 29-20 after Trimble's final kill of the match, but Mercer came back with four points in a row to extend the match. But the antenna reared it's ugly head for the Bears, as an attack by Karen Dorris struck the antenna in front of the up official to give State the fourth game and the match.
The Panthers will try to regain the winning form in Colonial Athletic Association play this Friday when they face the Patriots of George Mason. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
Notes: With 169 assists (13.0/gm) in her last three matches, Boyd has improved her assists per game average from 7.77 to 8.63...Thomas has matched her service ace total from a year ago with 22...Senior Christen Garcia's 10 digs tonight give her 1,518 for her career and double-digit digs in all but one match in 2006...Garcia also set a new career high in assists with six...State's 66 kills are the most for the team in a four-game match this season...The Panthers went 3-0 this season against Atlantic Sun Conference opponents and 3-1 against teams from the state of Georgia...State's 4-7 record in non-conference play bests last season's 2-9 mark...The Panthers improved to 3-4 at home this year with five matches remaining on the home slate...Mercer head coach Noelle Hughes picked up a yellow card at 29-28 of the third game...The Panthers are now 31-3 all-time against the Bears.
