What you need to know:
* Georgia State defeated Holy Cross 3-0 to open the 2016 volleyball season at the JMU Invitational. The team then battled JMU to four sets, but lost its second match of the day.
* Sarah Renner, Katelyn Rawls, Kristina Stinson, Celeste Friesen and Eliza Zachary starred in the Friday doubleheader. Friesen set the tone of the set and receive for the Panthers with 22 digs in the nightcap.
* Georgia State will conclude play on Saturday at 11:00 am versus North Carolina Central.
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Georgia State rolled in its season opener with a 3-0 sweep of Holy Cross on Friday. Katelyn Rawls, Eliza Zachary, Kristina Stinson, and Sarah Renner sparked a dominant performance in the tournament's opening match. The Panthers then battled stout tournament host James Madison in front of a hostile crowd Friday night. GSU won the first set 25-22, but the Dukes strung together three straight sets of 25-23, 28-26 and 25-15 to take the match.
Match 1: GSU 3, Holy Cross 0
Georgia State jumped out to 7-3 lead early in the first set with Katelyn Rawls' two kills. Holy Cross hung tough throughout the first set and made it 12-10 after Mandy Sifferlen's fourth kill. The first set went back and forth and was all square at 15. Sarah Renner came up huge with 16 assists in the first set.
Katie Creger's second kill tied up the first set at 24 and the Panthers went on to take the first set 26-24 on Rawls' seventh kill. Eliza Zachary got off to a fast start in the second set with three kills amounting to a 7-3 lead. GSU carried the momentum throughout the second as Stinson and Renner continued their strong play.
Holy Cross called time after a service error that gave the Panthers an 18-13 lead in the second. From there, Georgia State did not look back and took the set 25-21 on Zachary's ninth kill, seven of which came in the second set.
GSU cut Holy Cross' third set lead to 4-3 on Rawls' match-leading 11th kill. The Panthers bounced back from a slow start in the third to take an 8-7 lead on Creger's second block of the match. Stinson strung together back-to-back kills to give Georgia State an 18-10 lead. Crystal Lee got in on the action with a kill from Jocelyn Mahayag to nearly double up the Crusaders 21-11 late in the third.
Holy Cross went on an 8-1 run to cut the lead to 22-19 before Georgia State took the set and match 25-21 on Anna Rantala's second kill. Eight different players made their debuts in the Panthers' season opener including all five freshmen. Celeste Friesen led the team in digs with 16 for the match.
Match 2: JMU 3, GSU 1
In the first set, the pace escalated quickly as the Dukes and Panthers went back and forth. Anna Rantala's second kill of the match tied it up at 4. The beginning of the first set saw several ties and lead changes including Kristina Stinson's first kill that made it 9-8. Katelyn Rawls picked up right where she left off earlier in the day with 12 kills for the match.
It was Zachary's first kill off of Sarah Renner's eighth assist that forced JMU to call timeout at 15-12. Zachary was right back at it with another kill to put Georgia State ahead 17-13. The Dukes impressively battled their way to a 20-19 deficit forcing head coach Sally Polhamus to call time. GSU responded nicely and would go on to win the first set 25-22 on Rawls' sixth kill.
The Panthers grabbed an early 5-3 lead in the second set after Jocelyn Mahayag's ace. GSU continued to build on its momentum from set one and led 13-9. Janey Goodman's six kills kept the Dukes in it. Down 15-14, Georgia State hung tough and cut the JMU lead to two on an Eliza Zachary kill. Crystal Lee and Katie Creger registered a block to tie the set at 19.
GSU responded quickly after trailing 23-21, but Goodman's kill gave the Dukes the set to tie the match 1-1. Georgia State's Sarah Renner and the Dukes' Sarah Martin combined for 38 assists through two sets. Georgia State jumped out to a 6-4 lead on Zachary's fifth kill. Martin's attack error left the match tied at 9 until Goodman's 11th kill. Friesen and Zachary's nifty kills cut the Dukes' lead to 13-12 in the third.
Rawls' 11th kill of the match gave Georgia State a 17-15 lead before a JMU timeout. The Dukes battled back to go up 22-20 on an ace from Martin. The Panthers rattled off three consecutive points to go up 23-20 on Rawls' 12th kill from Friesen. The teams would go back and forth, taking the set to 26 all after a service error. The Dukes grabbed the third set 28-26 on a couple Panther errors.
The Dukes took a 6-5 lead in the fourth after Creger's second kill. JMU stretched its lead to 10-6 and the hosts kept its distance for the rest of the set. JMU road the coattails of Goodman and Gail to a strong finish. Goodman's match-leading 17th kill closed it out for JMU at 25-15.
Georgia State will look to bounce back on Saturday morning at 11:00 am versus North Carolina Central.
Follow along with Georgia State on Twitter (@GeorgiaStateVB) for the latest news.
