The Georgia State volleyball came out of the gate strong on Saturday afternoon at UNC Wilmington, however, it was the Seahawks that finished strong to earn a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-13, 25-12) win over the Panthers at Hanover Hall. It marked the first time the Seahawks defeated Georgia State in more than 20 years.
The loss, the first to the Seahawks since 1988 and a stretch of 11 matches, dropped the Panthers to 16-8 overall and 3-5 in the CAA. The Seahawks, who revenged an earlier season loss in Atlanta, improved to 12-12 and 3-5 in conference play.
Georgia State came out strong in the first set and led 19-13 late in the first set. However, the Seahawks stormed back on a 12-3 run to take the first set and set the tone for the match.
The Panthers tied the match at a set a piece going into the intermission after rallying from down 23-20 with five straight points to end the set. It was the Seahawks that managed to come out with momentum to start the third set and never looked back to earn the win.
Junior Ashley Jones fell just three assists shy of her sixth triple-double of the season, scoring 13 kills, 10 digs and seven assists. Jones was tied for the most triple-doubles in the CAA heading into play this weekend.
Redshirt-junior Audrey Cantrell scored a team-high 22 digs to move within 39 of April DeCoste (2001-04) for fifth on the all-time digs list. The Rockwall, Texas native now has 411 digs this season and is just six shy of setting a new personal best, set last season with 417. Cantrell is just 102 shy of Kumi Ishiyama (2002) for the most digs in a single season with a minimum of six matches remaining.
Sophomore Muki Kangwa added nine kills with just one error for a .400 hitting percentage in the loss. Fellow sophomore Chelsea Perry, who entered the weekend leading the CAA in service aces per set, scored a pair of aces, while leading the team with 29 assists.
Freshman Jamiee Freeman finished the match with six kills and 10 digs, while senior Jocelyn Waldern, who almost scored her first career triple-double on Tuesday night against Mercer, scored five kills and 15 digs for the Panthers.
The Seahawks were led by a pair of double-doubles from Lindsey Strucko and Keri Hogan. Strucko finished the match with 18 kills and 12 digs, while Hogan scored 11 kills and 13 digs in the win.
The Panthers will travel to Virginia next weekend to face James Madison and Georgia Mason. Georgia State's six-match road trip will continue on Friday night at James Madison, with first regular season, as the Panthers will take on VCU at 5:30 p.m.
