After a competitive first couple of sets, Georgia State volleyball would suffer defeat on Friday at the Sports Arena with a 3˗1 loss to the Arkansas State Red Wolves.
The loss brings the Panthers to 8˗16 on the season and 6˗9 in the Sun Belt.
“[Arkansas State’s] style of play is very chaotic and we weren’t able to adjust,” Panthers head coach Sally Polhamus said.
Set 1
The two teams scored a point each before two errors from the Panthers gave the Red Wolves a 3˗1 lead. A pair of kills from Kitan Ajanaku led the early charge from Georgia State as they would tie the set at five apiece.
Kelsey Reis’ first kill of the match along with a pair of attack errors from the Panthers allowed Arkansas State to go ahead by three at 8˗5. Andrea Book’s first kill of the match along with an ace from Gabby Serafin brought Georgia State to within one at 8˗7 before a pair of kills from Sarah Kemp gave the Red Wolves an 11˗8 advantage.
The Panthers would then embark on a 3˗0 run that saw kills from Kristina Stinson, Eliza Zachary, and Deidra Bohannon to tie the set at 11 apiece.
With the score knotted at 13, Book’s second kill and an attack error from Reis gave Georgia State a 15˗13 lead, prompting a timeout from Arkansas State.
Bohannon committed an attack error to make the score 15˗14 before her fourth kill and a Reis error forced by a Stinson block expanded the Panther lead to 17˗14.
Georgia State would maintain its three point lead at 19˗16 lead before a Mauer error and a pair of kills from Jessica Uke tied it up at 19, leading to a Panthers timeout.
Zachary and Uke then exchanged kills to tie the game at 20.
The next three plays resulted in errors, but two of them came from Drew Jones of the Red Wolves as Georgia State went ahead 23˗21.
A Reis kill and an Ajanaku error tied the score at 23. The Panthers would force set point at 24˗23, but a pair of Reis kills made the score 25˗24. Ajanaku would tie it again at 25.
Each team would commit an error and score a kill as the score became tied at 27 apiece.
Shonk’s service ace to force set point was followed up by a kill from Uke to tie the set again at 28.
Kemp would then have her own service ace that was followed up by a Zachary kill. The ensuing pair of plays would in a kill and error for the Red Wolves.
With the tally at 30 apiece, kills from Jones and Bohannon would make the score 31˗31. Ajanaku would bring about set point for the Panthers before a pair of Georgia State kills and a Jones kill allowed Arkansas State to win the first set 34˗32.
Set 2
Zachary and Uke would be responsible for the first scores for their respective sides. Two kills from Zachary along with one and an error from Uke would give Georgia State a 3˗1 lead.
The Panthers would maintain their two point advantage as they had leads of 5˗3 and 7˗5 before Zachary’s eighth kill made the score 8˗5 in favor of Georgia State.
Leads of 9˗6, 10˗7, and 11˗8 would be where the Panthers maintained a three point lead before a service ace via Zachary would make the Georgia State advantage 12˗8. The Red Wolves would close the gap to 12˗10 before an Ajanaku kill made the score 13˗10.
With the Panthers leading 14˗11, Jones would come up with a kill that was followed up by a Jessica Heuertz ace to make the score 14˗13 as Georgia State asked for time.
Kills from Stinson and Zachary would extend the lead back to three at 16˗13 before it became 16˗15 on a pair of scores from Reis.
The two teams would exchange the next two points apiece before Georgia State went ahead by three at 20˗17 with a Bohannon kill and a ball handling error from the Red Wolves’ Hannah Robey.
Arkansas State would again trim its deficit to one at 20˗18 before both teams traded the next two points as the score became 22˗20. A Reis kill and two Ajanaku attack errors (one of which a Reis block) gave Arkansas State a 23˗22 advantage.
Stinson’s fifth kill and a Jones error forced set point for the Panthers as the score became 24˗23. Reis’ ninth kill tied it up again at 24. Jones then committed a service error to once again force set point for Georgia State before Kemp’s sixth kill tied it again at 25.
Stinson would come up with her sixth kill which was followed up by a Zachary block as the Panthers claimed the second set 27˗25.
“We did a nice job of serving aggressively, but we made too many unforced errors,” Polhamus said. “We needed to win that first set. That would’ve changed things.”
After two sets, the Panthers are outhitting the Red Wolves .293-.261. Nieto has 34 assists and Zachary is hitting .524 with 11 kills.
— GeorgiaStateVB (@GeorgiaStateVB) November 8, 2014
Set 3
The third frame began with Arkansas State and Georgia State tied at one before Jones’ fifth kill, a block credited to Reis and Kari Castanon˗Hill, and a Bohannon attack error brought the score to 4˗1. A bad set from Bohannon made the Red Wolves’ lead 5˗1.
Castanon˗Hill then committed an attack error which was followed by her contributing her fourth kill as the Arkansas State lead became 6˗2. That lead would become six at 8˗2 after a Heuertz ace and Kemp’s eighth kill.
Georgia State trimmed their deficit to four with Bohannon’s fifteenth kill and an attack error from Reis before Jones’ sixth kill and two Panthers errors brought the tally to 11˗4.
Arkansas State would maintain its large lead and extend it to eight with Kemp’s eleventh kill at 14˗6. The Panthers called timeout after a Stinson error made the score 15˗6.
Zachary’s kill was followed by two from the Red Wolves’ Uke as the score became 17˗7.
The Red Wolves’ lead widened to 18˗7 after a Stinson error before her seventh kill made the score 18˗8. Zachary’s thirteenth kill made it 18˗9 before Castanon˗Hill’s fifth made the lead 10 for the Red Wolves.
Kemp’s service error and Jones’ seventh kill would allow Arkansas State to double up on the Panthers at 20˗10. The lone kill for Georgia State in the closing moments of the third set would come from Bohannon˗˗her sixteenth.
The Panthers were also aided by a ball handling error from Heuertz. But, two Kemp kills as well as scores from Castanon˗Hill and Mallory Warrington along with a Bohannon error would see the Red Wolves win the third set 25˗12.
Set 4
Kemp started the fourth period with a pair of kills and the Red Wolves got a service ace from Warrington along with Uke’s 12th and 13th kill as Arkansas State began the set with a 5˗0 lead.
Zachary’s 14th kill would put the Panthers on the board in the fourth set before Arkansas State scored four of the next five points to go ahead 8˗2, leading to a Georgia State timeout.
The Red Wolves maintained their six point lead at 10˗4 before the Panthers deficit became only four with a Heuertz error and Bohannon’s 18th kill.
Arkansas State expanded to eight at 15˗7 with three more Kemp kills, Warington’s fourth, and a Stinson attack error.
As the Red Wolves’ lead became 18˗9, Georgia State then called timeout. After calling time, Arkansas State scored three straight points as they expanded their lead to 21˗9. An attack error from Kemp would give the Panthers their 10th point of the match.
Bohannon’s 19th kill would make the score 21˗11 before another 3˗0 Red Wolves run would make the tally 24˗11 to force match point. Bohannon scored her 20th kill which was followed by a Zachary ace to make the score 24˗13, but Castanon˗Hill’s ninth would be the game winner for the Red Wolves as they won the last set 25˗13.
Final Stats
| Georgia State | Arkansas State |
|---|---|
| Bohannon: 20 kills, 9 digs | Zachary: 14 kills |
| Kemp: 19 kills, .400 hitting | Uke: 15 kills, .619 hitting |
“Good teams play well, but great teams rebound,” Polhamus said.
The Panthers hope to rebound from this defeat tomorrow as they face UL˗Monroe at 6 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
