Audio Interview - North Florida match
Head Coach Tami Audia
ATLANTA - Six GSU players turned in five or more kills as the Georgia State volleyball team rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to defeat North Florida, 3-1 (21-25, 25-11, 25-19, 25-23), to improve the Panthers to 2-0 on the young season. The Ospreys fell to 0-2.
After dropping a tough first set, 25-21, the Panthers settled in and dominated the second set, 25-11. After claiming the third set 25-19, they closed out the Ospreys in the fourth, 25-23.
"North Florida is a great team and they came out and wanted to redeem themselves from last night's loss," said head coach Tami Audia. "We came out and had some passing problems. But we came back and were very aggressive in the next couple of sets and were able to rally for the victory."
Junior setter Chelsea Perry led the way for GSU turning in a double-double with 20 assists and 10 digs, while chipping in five kills for an attack percentage of .444. Three players had double-digit digs with libero Audrey Cantrell leading the way with 16. Senior Ashley Jones had 14 digs and seven kills, while Vineece Verdun had seven kills and 3.5 blocks. Jamiee Freeman and Muki Kangwa each had six kills, while Rachel Boryc had five.
On the match, GSU had 13 blocks to UNF's two.
The Panthers return to action later this evening when they close out the Georgia State Invitational against Wright State (1-1). North Florida will do battle against Morehead State (1-1) at 5 p.m.
In set one, after GSU took an early 2-0 lead, North Florida fought back to hold leads of five points at 10-5 and 15-10. A long rally ending with a North Florida error cut the Ospreys' lead to 18-15 and a Rachel Boryc kill trimmed it to 18-16. The Panthers got to within one point at several times late in the match, but couldn't overcome the early deficit, falling 25-21.
The Panthers dominated the second set taking a 10-1 and 17-5 lead before cruising to a 25-11 victory. All 12 of GSU's active 14 players for Saturday' match logged playing time in the set, including all four freshmen playing as the set ended. Jones had six digs and four kills to lead the way for the Panthers in the set. GSU had a team attack percentage of .324 during the set, while limiting UNF to a -.059 percentage.
North Florida opened up the third set with an early lead before GSU fought back to take the advantage at 12-11. The teams continued trading points and the lead until the Panthers took a 15-14 advantage, one they would not give up, as they extended their lead to five points several times late in the match, before winning 25-19.
Set four proved to be similar to set three in that the Ospreys opened up the set with a lead, taking an early 5-0 advantage. UNF led by as much as seven at 15-8, before GSU went on a 6-0 run to bring it to within one at 15-14. The first tie of the set occurred at 16 and again at 18. From there, GSU closed out the match winning seven of the final five points.
Morehead State vs. Wright State, 11 a.m.
Morehead State 3, Wright State 1 (25-12, 25-16, 21-25, 25-18)
Behind Kaitlin Craven's 12 digs and 10 kills, Morehead State handled Wright State, 3-1 in the opening match of day two of the Georgia State Invitational.
