ATLANTA – Georgia State's volleyball team struggled to slow down UALR's high-powered offense on Friday as the Panthers (3-10, 1-3 SBC) were swept 3-0 by the Trojans (9-4, 3-0 SBC) at the GSU Sports Arena.

Junior Deidra Bohannon led GSU with 15 kills and nine digs. Fellow juniors Eliza Zachary and Kitan Ajanaku also had strong performances recording nine and seven kills, respectively.

“We really worked on being aggressive this week,” head coach Sally Polhamus said. “UALR has some powerful hitters. We had some great digs, we just have to make more of them. We definitely got better tonight.”

QUOTING THE PANTHERS…

• “The energy was different today. The home crowd was amazing. We fed off of their energy and they really fueled us to compete even harder. We saw a step forward in our performance tonight. Obviously, we aren't happy with a loss and we want to get better, but as long as we keep making steps, we'll be fine.” – Deidra Bohannon

• “So proud of our team with how they're working and getting more aggressive on every play. UALR is a strong team and we executed our game plan against them. That's all we can ask for.” – Sally Polhamus

• "I've been focusing on mental toughness the last few weeks and my teammates have really been encouraging me. Coach wants all of us to play with energy, a high IQ, and toughness and we showed improvement in all three of those areas tonight. It's disappointing to come away with a loss, but we can build off the toughness and resiliency that we showed tonight." - Kitan Ajanaku

The Trojans were led by Edina Begic who had 13 kills on .225 hitting. UALR won the first set 25-14 after jumping out to a 9-3 lead. The Panthers came roaring back with a wild volley to pull within two at 16-14. That would be as close as they would get, however.

In the second set, Georgia State fell behind 10-3, but once again made a rally and closed the deficit to three with an Ajanaku kill to make it 18-15, UALR. The Trojans called a timeout to regroup and finished off the Panthers, 25-16, to send the match to intermission up 2-0.

The Panthers came out of intermission with a raised intensity and it showed on the court. With the home crowd behind them, GSU pulled within two when Zachary killed it to bring the score to 16-14, Trojans. Like the first two sets, UALR bounced back and shut the door to finish off the sweep, 25-17.

Next up for the Panthers is a trip to Lafayette, La., to face UL Lafayette on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. ET. After that, GSU returns home to host South Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. in the GSU Sports Arena.