LAFAYETTE, La. – After falling behind 2-0 in the match, Georgia State's volleyball team came within two points of beating UL Lafayette on Thursday, losing 17-15 in the fifth set to fall to 3-11 on the season and 1-4 in conference play.
All five sets were decided by two points. The Ragin' Cajuns won sets one, two, and five with scores of 25-23, 28-26, and 17-15, respectively. The Panthers came just short of pulling off an epic comeback, winning sets four and five 25-23 and 26-24.
“Every set was such a battle,” head coach Sally Polhamus said after the match. “We earned most of our points tonight. We're learning how to work for every point and we're looking forward to hosting a tough South Alabama team on Saturday and implementing some of the competitiveness we found tonight.”
NOTING THE PANTHERS…
- Georgia State had two players record 20 or more kills for the first time since Oct. 28, 2011 when Vineece Verdun and Jamie Freeman each had more than 20 kills. Eliza Zachary had a career-high 22 kills in the loss on Thursday and Deidra Bohannon led all players with 25 kills.
- Georgia State outhit UL Lafayette in all but one set on Thursday. The Panthers hit .259 while the Ragin' Cajuns finished with a .236 average.
- Deidra Bohannon recorded her fourth double-double of the year with her 25 kills and 15 digs.
Georgia State started off sluggish in the first set, but sophomore Kristina Stinson's first kill of the match brought the Panthers even with ULL at 10 apiece. The two squads fought back and forth in the first set and GSU even held a one-point lead twice, before losing 25-23.
Georgia State got off to a strong start in the second set. After trailing 15-8, ULL rattled off five straight to pull close, leading to a Georgia State timeout. The Ragin' Cajuns pulled even at 21 and once again the two teams traded points until ULL won 28-26. Despite outhitting their opponent .284-.264 through two sets, the Panthers trailed 2-0 going into intermission.
Georgia State didn't have a lead in the third set until a ULL attack error put the Panthers in front, 15-14. Stinson once again came through for GSU with a kill to make it a 20-18 set in favor of the Panthers. Georgia State called a timeout at match point, down 24-23 to ULL. Bohannon's 17th kill tied the set at 24 and back-to-back ULL errors handed set three to the Panthers.
Down 2-1 in the match, Georgia State fell behind to begin the fourth set. Two Zachary kills along with two aces from freshman Sydney Mauer made it a 5-5 set. The Panthers continued to fight and would take the set 25-23 to send the match to a fifth set.
Georgia State called a timeout down 10-8 in the fifth set. Once again, the Panthers used back-to-back ULL errors to come even in the match. After falling behind 14-13, Polhamus called another timeout. Bohannon continued to come through for the Panthers when the match was on the line. After tying the set at 14 and 15, Georgia State finally went down, dropping the set 17-15 and the match, 3-2.
Georgia State returns home to host South Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. in the GSU Sports Arena. The Panthers lost 3-0 at South Alabama two weekends ago.
