ATLANTA -- Senior Rachel Boryc had a career-high 14 kills as the Georgia State volleyball team swept in-state rival Mercer, 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-23), in Wednesday action at the GSU Sports Arena.
The Panthers improve to 5-2 and will head to Chicago, Ill., this weekend for the DePaul Invitational. They will meet Radford on Friday at 3 p.m. and DePaul on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Mercer falls to 2-7 on the season. GSU now holds a 32-4 series edge over the Bears.
"Winning against a tough Mercer team gives us momentum heading to Chicago," said head coach Tami Audia. "This team showed a flare for the dramatic last weekend at home, but we came out and played hard today and got the victory."
Boryc, who topped her previous career high of 13 kills that she set in 2008 against VCU, chipped in with two service aces, three digs and one block assist to go along with a .458 attack percentage.
"Rachel looked really strong in warmups today and came out and played really well," said Audia. "These seniors are starting to realize that their matches at home are starting to dwindle and they are coming out and playing hard."
After the Panthers handily took the first two sets, the third set was a battle with each team claiming at least a three-point lead at different times in the set. There were six ties and three lead changes overall. With the score knoted at 20, an attack error by Mercer and a service ace by Chelsea Perry gave GSU a two-point lead. After an attack error by Jones cut the lead to 22-21, a kill by Jones and an attack error on the Bears gave GSU match point. GSU finally closed out the match on a Freeman kill.
Redshirt-junior Vineece Verdun had 11 kills and three block assists, while Jones had 14 digs and eight kills. Verdun has now had double-digit kills in six of the seven matches, including five in a row.
The two teams battled back and forth in the first set with the score being tied as late as 14. Until that point, the set featured seven ties and five lead changes. However, an 11-4 run by the Panthers gave them the convincing 25-18 victory. GSU was very balanced in set one with senior Ashley Jones leading the way with four kills, while sophomore Jamiee Freeman and Boryc had three each. Junior Muki Kangwa had three block assists. The Panthers held an impressive .478 to .194 team attack percentage advantage.
The Panthers completely dominated set two, as they took an early 5-0 lead on the strength of three Boryc kills, and cruised from there, taking the set, 25-13. Boryc led the way with six kills, while Verdun had four. GSU held the Bears to a -.029 team attack percentage, while the Panthers had a 71% sideout percentage.
