ATLANTA – Georgia State's volleyball team was tripped up on Senior Day as the visiting Appalachian State Mountaineers defeated the Panthers in three sets at the GSU Sports Arena, 20-25, 21-25, and 16-25. Seniors Andrea Book and Andrea' Ezell were honored prior to the match.
“This team has had some very high highs this season along with some low lows, but Andrea' and Andrea were leaders through it all and I am very appreciative for everything they've given to this team,” head coach Sally Polhamus said following the end of her first regular season as head coach at GSU.
Georgia State was outhit .346-.205 on Saturday and the Mountaineers used nine total team blocks to stymy the Panther attack. Two Panthers managed to post double-digit kills as juniors Eliza Zachary and Deidra Bohannon finished with 10 and 18 kills, respectively. Bohannon came up with 12 digs as well for her team-leading 14th double-double. Bohannon finishes the regular season with 427 kills, 39 more than her all-conference performance a year ago.
Georgia State started off on the right foot with Zachary slamming home a kill for the first point of the match. App State then settled in to take a 10-7 lead and never turned back. Bohannon rattled off a few points to bring the Panthers within three at 22-19, but the Mountaineers pulled away to win 25-20. Bohannon finished the first set with eight kills on .429 hitting.
Set 2 remained close as the Panthers tried to even the score. Bohannon had another strong frame with six kills, but the Mountaineers always had a response. Georgia State's biggest lead came at 8-4 as App State came to life and pulled away to win 25-21 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Georgia State struggled to get going on offense in Set 3. App State used three total team blocks and a hitting percentage of .448 to finish off the sweep with a 25-16 win. Emily Corrigan had seven kills in the final frame and finished with 15 for the Mountaineers.
The loss drops the Panthers to 10-19 (8-12 SBC) while App State improves to 21-9 (11-9 SBC). The Panthers clinched a spot in next week's Sun Belt Conference Championship with their thrilling, come-from-behind win on Friday night against Troy. With Saturday's loss, Georgia State needs a South Alabama loss to remain the seven-seed and have a chance at the six seed with a UL Lafayette loss on Sunday.
Follow along as Georgia State competes in San Marcos, Texas at the Sun Belt Conference Championship next week. The first matches on Thursday, Nov. 27.
