ATLANTA – Georgia State's volleyball team defeated UL Monroe 3-1 on Saturday night at the GSU Sports Arena. Junior Deidra Bohannon had 23 kills on a .370 hit percentage to lead the Panthers. GSU won 25-17, 25-20, 25-27, and 25-23 to improve to 9-16 (7-9 SBC) on the season.
Bohannon added a career-high 21 digs to post her 10th double-double of the year. Bohannon credited her setter and middles for the strong performance. Natalia Nieto finished with 47 assists while middles Eliza Zachary and Kitan Ajanaku each recorded double-digit kills and hit .406 and .364, respectively.
“Natalia [Nieto] and the middles opened up a lot of things for me on offense. There were a lot of seams open and a lot of that was due to them playing really well tonight,” Bohannon said.
NOTING THE PANTHERS…
- Freshman Sydney Mauer entered the weekend ranked in the top 50 in the country in aces per set and added her 33rd on the season, a team-high. It was Bohannon that led the team on Saturday, however, as the junior served a career-high four aces.
- The Panthers outhit the Warhawks .273-.181 thanks to Zachary's .406, Bohannon's .370, Ajanaku's .364 and senior Andrea Book's .294 hitting percentages on a combined 55 kills.
- Nieto's 47 assists gives her 2,472 for her career. The junior is currently fourth on GSU's career-assists list and needs 189 to catch third-place Oksana Greydinger (1998-99).
“Our leaders stepped up tonight,” head coach Sally Polhamus said. “This was a big win for us against a tough team that doesn't go down easily. We still need a total team effort and that's what we are going to work on next week before we hit the road.”
ULM opened the match with a 3-0 run that was ended by Zachary's first kill of the contest. Georgia State tied the set at 12 and used a 5-0 run to go up 16-12. The Panthers, led by Bohannon and Zachary, put together a 5-2 run to close out the frame and win 25-17. Bohannon and Zachary both finished the first set with a .667 hit percentage and six and four kills, respectively. The Panthers as a team outhit the Warhawks .560-.148.
The Panthers lead 8-4 in Set 2 before ULM put together a string of points to take a 10-9 lead. The two teams went back and forth until the Panthers were able to pull ahead 20-17, leading to a ULM timeout. ULM kept it close, but back-to-back aces by Bohannon kept GSU in front and a kill by senior Andrea Book sealed the 25-20 win.
Trying to avoid the sweep, ULM picked up the pace in Set 3 and was in front for much of the set. Georgia State was down three when Polhamus called a timeout. Out of the break, the Panthers rallied to take a 20-19 lead with an ace by Bohannon. GSU had match point at 24-21, but ULM scored three-straight to tie it at 24 and would go on to win the set 27-25.
Georgia State rebounded from the loss in Set 3 with an impressive fourth set. The Panthers never trailed, although ULM kept it interesting. Georgia State had its biggest lead at 17-11 when ULM took a timeout. The Warhawks responded with a 5-1 run to close the deficit to two, then tied the set at 23. Zachary shut the door with her 16th kill to win the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.
Georgia State, sixth in the Sun Belt standings, hits the road for a pair of matches in the state of Texas. The Panthers face third-place Texas State in San Marcos at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 14 and fourth-place UT Arlington in Arlington at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16.
