What you need to know:
* On Saturday night, Georgia State battled South Alabama in the GSU Sports Arena. The Panthers took the match in four sets of 24-26, 25-23, 25-12 and 25-20.
* With the victory, GSU improves to 6-9 overall and 2-2 in the Sun Belt. South Alabama dropped to 9-8 and 0-4 in the conference. For the second straight night, Georgia State employed a balanced offensive attack with Crystal Lee, Kristina Stinson and Eliza Zachary all having double digits in kills.
* After a 2-0 home stand, the Panthers will look to build on this weekend's momentum as they continue Sun Belt play next weekend against Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State.
ATLANTA – On Saturday night, Georgia State made a statement by defeating South Alabama in four sets. The Panthers took the match by a final of 24-26, 25-23, 25-12 and 25-20. Head coach Sally Polhamus and the Panthers improve to 6-9 overall and 2-2 in the Sun Belt.
For the second straight night, GSU used a balanced offensive attack to earn its sixth win of the season.
Sophomore Crystal Lee led the way with 13 kills, six of which came in the opening set. Seniors Kristina Stinson and Eliza Zachary added reinforcements with 12 kills apiece.True freshman Sydney Stroud played a larger role and contributed six kills to help carry the Panthers.
South Alabama took the first set of the match with Iva Durdanovic getting off to a hot start offensively. She led the Jaguars with 13 kills and Kelley Hartman added another eight to make the match competitive down the stretch.
Mechell Daniel, Crystal Lee and Celeste Friesen led the Jaguar and Panther defensive effort. Daniel totaled 15 digs and Lee and Friesen's one-two punch amounted to 22 digs on the night.
After dropping the first set, Georgia State set the tone and bounced back nicely. The Panthers took sets two and three by finals of 25-23 and 25-12. Zachary proved vital to GSU as she totaled all 12 of her kills in sets two through four.
The Panthers outscored the Jaguars in the ace department 13-3 on the match. Anna Rantala and Kristina Stinson served four aces each and Lee added three of her own. Although South Alabama doubled up Georgia State in blocks, GSU had 10 more kills on Saturday night.
After defeating Troy and South Alabama at home, the team will look to continue defending home court against Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State next weekend. Both matches start at 6:00 p.m.
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