ATLANTA – Georgia State's volleyball team fell 3-1 to Arkansas State on Friday at the GSU Sports Arena. The Red Wolves (16-8, 11-4 SBC) defeated the Panthers (8-16, 6-9 SBC) 32-34, 27-25, 12-25, and 13-25.
“Arkansas State played a great match tonight,” head coach Sally Polhamus said. “We need to come back and play disciplined volleyball on Saturday against ULM. Good teams know how to rebound from a match like this.”
Junior Deidra Bohannon led the team in kills with 20 and came up just shy of a double-double with nine digs. Junior Natalia Nieto recorded her seventh double-double in a row with 46 assists and 10 digs. Nieto moved into fourth place on GSU's career-assists list with her 2,425th assist on Friday.
NOTING THE PANTHERS…
- Set 1's 32-34 loss was the highest-scoring set for Georgia State since a Nov. 15 32-34 loss to Troy a season ago.
- Junior Eliza Zachary posted double-digit kills on Friday with 14 and hit .278. Senior Andrea Book led the team in hitting at .500 with six kills on 10 attempts and just one error.
- The panthers had three players in double-digit digs with junior Gabby Serafin leading the pack with 16. Nieto and freshman Sydney Mauer each added 10.
Georgia State fell behind early in Set 1 but rallied to tie the set at 11. Zachary continued the run with her third kill of the frame to put the Panthers on top. The Red Wolves took a timeout with the Panthers up 15-13 and mounted a comeback to tie the set at 19. The two sides went back and forth and continued into extra points. Arkansas State finally broke through and won the set 34-32 with an ace.
The Panthers led the Red Wolves for most of Set 2. Arkansas State pulled within one multiple times and was able to pull even at 22. After a GSU timeout, the Panthers surrendered the lead for the first time. The deficit wouldn't last long, however, as Zachary would pick up her first block of the match to win the set 27-25. Zachary led the Panther offense in the second set as well, hitting .545 on six kills. Freshman Sydney Mauer and junior Gabby Serafin combined for 11 digs.
Arkansas State came out of intermission on fire and raced to a 7-2 lead. After a Panther timeout, Georgia State trimmed the deficit, but continued to trail the Red Wolves in the third set. A-State hit .448 in the Set 3 to win 25-12 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Red Wolves rode the momentum from the Set 3 win into the fourth set. Arkansas State led wire-to-wire and took the set 25-13 to win 3-1.
Georgia State is back in action at the GSU Sports Arena Saturday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. when UL Monroe comes to town. Georgia State swept the Warhawks in Monroe, La. earlier this season. Admission is FREE!
