Despite winning the first two sets, Georgia State volleyball suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Sun Belt second˗ranked UT˗Arlington in five sets. The loss puts the Panthers at 7˗15 for the season and 5˗8 in the conference.
After the match, head coach Sally Polhamus tried to look on the bright side after such a stunning loss.
“For us, that’s a physical team. They are well˗coached and have a great system. They will wear you down. But I’m proud of the way we played,” Polhamus said.
Set 1
UT˗Arlington’s Brianna Sharratt and Georgia State’s Kristina Stinson traded the initial two kills in the early going. The match would remain tied later as the tally became 3˗3. Kitan Ajanaku’s first kill of the match gave the Panthers their first lead at 4˗3 before Sharratt answered to make the first set all square at four once again.
Taylor Gross’ first kill of the match gave the Mavericks the lead back at 5˗4. Neither team went on an extended run until a 4˗0 Georgia State run would give them a three˗point advantage at 9˗6. UT Arlington would come back to tie the match at 10.
Deidra Bohannon’s third kill of the match along with an attack error from Sharratt gave the Panthers a two point lead at 14˗12. The Mavericks called for time as the Georgia State advantage remained at two at 16˗14.
The timeout did not do anything to slow the Panthers’ momentum as Ajanaku’s third kill and Molly Shonk’s first increased the Georgia State lead to 18˗14. Qiana Canete committed an attack error contributing to another Panthers point at 19˗14.
The Mavericks called for time again as the lead for Georgia State became 21˗15. UT Arlington notched four of the following six points to close the gap to four at 23˗19.
Andrea Book’s second kill of the match managed to force set point for the Panthers before a 2˗0 run from UT˗Arlington made the score 24˗21 before an attack error from Hannah Baptiste allowed Georgia State to clinch the first set 25˗21.
Set 2
Frame number two would see the Mavericks and Panthers trade the first two points. Kills from Sharratt and Taylor Gross along with an Ajanaku attack error gave UT Arlington a 5˗2 lead.
Georgia State would even the score at 5˗5 as the Mavericks would commit a trio of attack errors, two of them from Canete. Two errors from Bohannon allowed the Mavericks to retake the lead at 7˗5.
UT˗Arlington would go ahead by a score of 10˗7 as they scored three of the following five points. The ensuing sequence would see the Panthers score three of the following five points as they got a pair of kills from Zachary along with one from Kristina Stinson. Both of the scores for the Mavericks came via Sharratt. This made the score 12˗10 in favor of UT˗Arlington.
A pair of kills from Canete along with a Mavericks block made the score 15˗12. The Panthers closed the gap to within 15˗14.
After an attack error from Book and another Canete kill to give UT˗Arlington a three point advantage at 17˗14. A 3˗0 run from Georgia State that saw kills from Ajanaku and Zachary along with an attack error from Baptiste tied it up at 17.
A Bennett kill and a Stinson attack error made the tally 19˗17 in favor of the Mavericks, leading from a timeout from Polhamus.
Sharratt committed an attack error that went along with a pair of kills from Zachary for a 20˗20 tie.
UT˗Arlington got a service ace, a kill from Stacey Koch, and a Taylor Gross kill along with an attack error from Zachary to force set point at 24˗22.
Georgia State would receive a backcourt kill from Gabby Serafin and an attack error from Gross to tie it at 24. Sharratt and Bohannon then exchanged kills to knot the score at 25. The two teams then each committed attack errors to tie it up at 26 before Book’s third kill and Ajanaku’s eighth clinched the second set 28˗26 as the match entered the intermission period.
“The comeback in Set two after being down 24˗21 was a huge step for our team,” Polhamus said after the match.
| Georgia State | Bohannon: 8 kills, 9 digs | Ajanaku: eight kills | Stinson: seven kills |
|---|---|---|---|
| UT-Arlington | Gross: 7 kills | Sharratt: 6kills, .444 hitting | Bennett: 5 kills, .714 hitting |
Set 3
The two teams would trade the first pair of points to begin the third period before Canete’s third kill along with an attack error by Zachary led to a 4˗2 for UT˗Arlington.
Georgia State would embark on a 3˗1 that would see Zachary’s seventh kill along with Bohannon’s tenth and Shonk’s second kills. This tied the score at five apiece.
The Panthers took a 7˗6 with a Koch attack error and Bohannon’s eleventh kill. Book and Stinson came up with kills to increase the Georgia State advantage to 9˗6. Koch’s fourth kill plus four Panther miscues contributed to the Mavericks retaking the lead at 11˗9.
UT˗Arlington would then commit a pair of errors of their own which led to the score being tied at 11. Kills from Stinson and Zachary gave the Panthers a 13˗12 lead before the Mavericks went on a 4˗0 that included two service aces from Amanda Welsh to produce a 16˗13 UT˗Arlington lead and a Georgia State timeout.
After the timeout, Welsh would then be credited with her second kill for a 17˗13 lead. The Mavericks would expand their lead to five at 19˗14 with a Sharratt kill and a Bohannon error that went out of bounds.
Georgia State would score six of the next seven points that included two errors from Canete, an Ajanaku kill and two courtesy of Bohannon to tie the score at 20.
Canete would earn her seventh and eighth kills in addition to Koch scoring her fifth to contribute to the Mavericks forcing set point at 24˗21. Ajanaku also had an error in that sequence.
Ajanaku would be responsible for her tenth kill of the match but Koch’s sixth would allow UT˗Arlington to claim the third set, 25˗22.
Set 4
Zachary’s tenth kill of the match and Baptiste third began the fourth stanza at one apiece. After the match was tied at two, UT˗Arlington engineered a 5˗0 run to go ahead 7˗2, which led to a Georgia State timeout.
The Panthers would score the following two points after calling time before the Mavericks would go ahead by six at 10˗4 after scoring the following three.
Georgia State called another timeout with the momentum on the side of UT˗Arlington. Canete’s tenth kill would extend the Mavericks’ lead to 11˗4. The Panthers would close the deficit to five at 13˗8 before the advantage for UT˗Arlington would increase to as many as ten at 22˗11 that included three Canete kills.
With the score at 23˗12, Georgia State would score five of the match’s final seven points, but the Mavericks would prevail to take the fourth set 25˗17.
Set 5
Welsh and Sharratt would begin the match with kills to give Mavericks a 2˗0 lead. After a kill from Book, Baptiste got her fourth kill along with a Book attack error for UT˗Arlington to go ahead 4˗1.
Stinson got her twelfth kill but it was followed by a Bohannon attack error for a 5˗2 lead for the Mavericks.
After a Panthers timeout, kills from Canete and Gross increased the UT˗Arlington advantage to 7˗2.
Torain’s second kill of the match was followed by a Canete’s fifteenth and two Stinson attack errors to produce a 10˗3 Mavericks lead and another Georgia State timeout.
The lead for UT˗Arlington would be maintained at seven later in the set at 13˗7. Sharratt’s thirteenth kill would force match point at 14˗7. Ajanaku’s twelfth and an attack error from Canete would give the Panthers their eighth and ninth points before Canete’s sixteenth would clinch the victory for UT˗Arlington with a 15˗9 tally.The
Panthers hope to regroup from the loss on Saturday as they take to the road to face Georgia Southern next.
| Georgia State | UT-Arlington |
|---|---|
| Bohannon: 20 kills, 18 digs | Zachary: 14 kills |
| Canete: 16 kills, 20 digs | Sharratt: 13 kills, .429 hitting |
