ATLANTA -- The Georgia State volleyball team led the Georgia Bulldogs, 2-0, but couldn't hold on in a five-set thriller at the Sports Arena on Tuesday night as UGA defeated GSU, 3-2 (24-26, 18-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-12).
The deciding fifth set proved to be as exciting as the previous four with GSU taking an 8-7 lead at the side change on an Ashley Jones kill. The Panthers held two point leads twice before the side change, but UGA kept battling back. After the side change, the Bulldogs quickly tied the match and took a 9-8 lead.
GSU scored two straight points to take the 10-9 lead, but UGA tied it at 10, and followed with a kill by Valentina Gonzalez and a Nicole Choi service ace to extend Georgia's lead to 12-10. Trailing 12-11, GSU brought in freshman Emily Averbeck, who has shown the ability to provide crucial late game serving. However, a Kathleen Luft kill gave UGA the serve needing only two points to claim the match. A service error by Gonzalez trimmed the lead to 13-12, but an attack error by A. Jones and a kill by Erika Clark gave the match to the Bulldogs.
Overall, there were eight ties and four lead changes in the deciding fifth set.
Brittany Northcutt paced Georgia with 15 kills, while Erika Clark had a double-double with 11 digs and 10 kills.
Chelsea Perry produced another double-double with 50 assists and 11 digs in the loss, while senior Audrey Cantrell had 24 digs. Jones produced 19 kills and eight digs, while sophomore Jamiee Freeman had 17 digs and seven kills. Vineece Verdun had 13 kills and four total blocks.
"After last weekend, I was proud with how we came out and played tonight," said head coach Tami Audia. "We fought hard, improved on some of the things we worked on in practice and showed we can compete with SEC talent when we play well. However, we committed too many errors tonight and a good team will make you pay for that. This weekend will give us another chance to play some top quality teams."
Trailing by as much as eight at 19-11, the Panthers rallied all the way back in set one to win 26-24. Trailing 24-22, four-straight kills by Raquel Jones, Muki Kangwa, Freeman and Verdun gave GSU the thrilling first set victory. After the teams traded early points in set one, the Bulldogs took a 14-8 lead behind strong play at the net and several GSU errors. From there, they extended it to 19-11, before GSU cut the lead to 19-15 behind a Verdun kill, a service ace from Freeman and a pair of Jones' kills. Georgia scored its last point of the set on a Brittany Northcutt kill before GSU claimed the sets final four points. GSU had 17 kills in the first set compared to UGA's 12.
In set two, the Panthers jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead and held that three-point lead at 7-4 and 9-6 after an errant UGA attack. From there, the Panthers took control, quickly building a 17-10 lead on five UGA errors. Georgia could get no closer than three as GSU closed out the set, 25-18, on a kill by Verdun. GSU scored the final four points of the match after the UGA cut the lead to 21-18. GSU had a .241 attack percentage for the set, while limiting UGA to a .000 attack percentage.
Despite seeing five ties and two lead changes, UGA completely dominated set three, winning 25-12. With the score tied at six, the Bulldogs scored 19 of the set's final 25 points to move to within one set of GSU, 2-1. Georgia had a remarkable 91% sideout percentage, and had a team attack percentage of .400. GSU was limited to a .069 attack percentage and a sideout percentage of 41%.
Set four was a wild affair despite Georgia leading from the opening point. With the score 19-10, the Panthers put together a mad rally to cut the lead to 22-19 behind three kills from A. Jones and the serving of Perry. However, four straight errors on GSU gave the Bulldogs the set and tied the match at two games a piece.
The Panthers (5-5) return to action this weekend when they travel to Clemson, S.C., for the Clemson Classic. They will face off against Florida A&M on Friday at 5 p.m., before battling Clemson and Georgia Tech on Saturday at noon and 4 p.m., respectively. UGA improves to 8-3.
