ATLANTA - The Georgia State volleyball team (4-7) battled all weekend, facing three teams with winning records, but lost all three of its matches in the Georgia State Invitational. Buffalo was the winner of the tournament, going undefeated and keeping its perfect 9-0 record alive.
Buffalo's Tahleia Bishop was named the tournament MVP, while Georgia State's Eliza Zachary was named to the all-tournament team.
Georgia State lost its opening match of the tournament Friday night 3-1 to UCF (8-3). On Saturday afternoon the Panthers took on Davidson (6-3) and also lost 3-1, before finishing out the tournament Saturday night with a 3-0 loss to Buffalo.
The two other matches on Saturday saw Buffalo defeat UCF 3-1 and UCF down Davidson 3-1.
In Georgia State's first match of the day, it took on the Wildcats and lost 18-25, 27-25, 26-24, 25-23. The Panthers had a great start to the match, taking the first set with relative ease, 25-18. They closed out that set with a 9-2 run starting when the two teams were tied at 16-16. In the second set, the Panthers fell behind early, but used a 9-0 run at 9-17 to take an 18-17 lead. Eventually, Georgia State had two set points at 24-22. However, the Wildcats had other plans and won six of the next seven points to take the second set 27-25.
Like the third set, Georgia State found itself with two set points at 24-22. But again, Davidson battled back and won four straight points to take the set 26-24. The fourth set found the Panthers constantly battling to keep up with the Wildcats, staying within two or three points most of the set. Georgia State tied it at 22, but Davidson won three of the next four points to take the fourth and final set.
Zachary hit very well, .579, with 11 kills on 19 attempts. Sophomores Kitan Ajanaku and Dede Bohannon also had double digit kills, with 11 and 13 respectively. Junior Andrea' Ezell added in five more, alongside her five block assists and two solo blocks.
Georgia State's second match of the day matched the Panthers with the undefeated Bulls. Yet again, the Panthers battled the entire time, but came up a few points shy and gave Buffalo its ninth straight win in straight sets, 25-22, 25-23, 26-24.
The Panthers kept it close in the first set, and at 20-23, won two points in a row thanks sophomore Sydney Hunsley and Ezell, to bring the score to 22-23. Buffalo then won the next two points to close out the set 25-22.
Similar to the first set, the second set came down to the wire, with the Panthers a few points behind the Wildcats. Georgia State got the score to 23-24 from an Ezell kill, but Davidson won the second set 25-23.
Following the precedent set in the first two sets, the third set was very tight. Georgia State led 20-16, but after a Davidson timeout, they battled back to 23-21, followed by two more Wildcat points to make it 23-23. The teams then split points to get to 24-24, but two kills from the Wildcats sealed the set and the match.
Senior Emily Averbeck finished the weekend with 36 digs, which places her in fifth place in the GSU digs career chart.
After playing five matches in five days, the Panthers will take a well deserved rest before heading to Edwardsville, Ill., to take on Arkansas Pine-Bluff, DePaul and SIU-Edwardsville Sept. 20 and 21. After that tournament, the team will embark on its first Sun Belt conference schedule.
All-Tournament Team:
- MVP: Tahleia Bishop, Buffalo
- Dana Musil, Buffalo
- Christine Frischke, Buffalo
- Angelica Crump, UCF
- DeLaina Serdan, UCF
- Taylor Pisel, Davidson
- Eliza Zachary, Georgia State
