What you need to know:
* Georgia State (12-1) grinded out a 3-2 win to upset No. 4 Florida State and then swept Carson-Newman 5-0 at the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, S.C.
* The victory over FSU is the highest ranked win in GSU's three-year history.
* The Panthers have won six straight and go to Charleston, S.C. next week for the College of Charleston Tournament.
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Already off to its best start in school history, Georgia State's sand volleyball team padded its résumé with a thrilling 3-2 upset of No. 4 Florida State at the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, S.C. on Sunday. GSU then swept Carson-Newman 5-0 to move to 12-1 this spring.
“Beating FSU for the first time is monumental for our program,” head coach Beth Van Fleet said. “Florida State is a powerhouse on the east coast and today had had an opportunity and we took it. Our team had a mission and we played for each other and for GSU.”
It came down to the wire against the No. 4 team in the country. Florida State (9-4) took a 2-1 lead winning in straight sets at Nos. 4 and 5. Georgia State's Kate Rawls and Nina Interwies won 21-13, 21-12 on Court 2 to get GSU on the board. Needing both of the final two contests, Georgia State won the first set at No. 1, but dropped the first at No. 3. At the top spot for the Panthers was Majda Dostalova and Milani Pickering. The duo fell in Set 2 to FSU's top pair, but rallied to win the deciding frame 15-10 and even the match at 2-2.
Sara Olivova and Jansen Button were locked in a tight battle on Court 3 with Florida State's Julie Brown and Melanie Pavels. The Panther pair edged out a 21-19 win in the second set to force a third. With the match in their hands, Olivova and Button dug deep and clinched GSU's highest-ranked win, taking Set 3 16-14 and causing a dog pile in the sand.
Georgia State rolled onto its sixth straight victory in the afternoon, sweeping Carson-Newman 5-0 to improve to 12-1 on the season. The lineup stayed the same as the first match, except at No. 5, where Alexis Elmurr and Molly Smestad filled in and won 21-10, 21-8. Georgia State had zero 5-0 wins in 2013 and five in 2014. Today's sweep is already the Panthers' sixth such win in 2015.
Now in its third season of competition, Georgia State has won six straight matches twice. The Panthers will go for their seventh next weekend against Mercer at the College of Charleston Tournament in Charleston, S.C. GSU also faces Tulane, Stetson and Jacksonville and is a combined 13-3 against the four teams. Two of those losses came in GSU's inaugural season.
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