The Georgia State volleyball team fell 3-0 (20-25, 17-25, 23-25) to VCU on Friday night at the GSU Sports Arena. The Panthers honored lone senior Jocelyn Waldern in pregame festivities before the start of the match.
Waldern will play her final match in a Panther uniform on Sunday as Georgia State takes on William & Mary at noon.
The loss dropped the Panthers to 16-13 overall and 3-10 in the CAA. VCU, which entered Friday night's contest tied for first place in the CAA, improved to 23-8 overall and 11-2 in the CAA.
"This is a tough loss," commented head coach Mike Webster. "You have to give credit to VCU as they played very well and served extremely well."
Redshirt-sophomore Vineece Verdun led the Panthers will 11 kills and just two errors for a .474 hitting percentage. The Bloomfield, Mich. native added a pair of block solos and block assists.
"Vineece played a great match tonight. We really needed to get her more balls and we just were not able to."
Waldern, who has played in 110 matches in her career, scored a pair of kills and three digs in the loss.
Freshman Jamiee Freeman added eight kills on 17 attempts for a .412 hitting percentage. Freeman added six digs and a pair of aces against the Rams.
"Offensive, Jamiee did a very good job tonight."
The Rams outhit the Panthers .301 to .192, while seven Georgia State service errors were too costly to the first-place Rams. "We have to step up if we are going to compete in this league. We have one more chance on Sunday to knock off one of the top four teams in the CAA."
Redshirt-junior Audrey Cantrell, who is attempting to break the single season school digs record, scored 11 digs and will need 18 on Sunday to tie Kumi Ishiyama's 2002-mark of 513. The Rockwall, Texas native tied Christen Garcia for the second most in a single season with 495 on Friday night.
Sophomore Chelsea Perry finished the match with 25 assists.
VCU was led by Ivana Rich's 10 kills, while Michala Kvapilova and Mariel Frey added nine each. Lenka Melicharkova scored a match-high 34 assists.
The Panthers will return to the court for one last time in 2009 on Sunday to face the Tribe at noon. Live stats and web-streaming of will be available via GeorgiaStateSports.com.
