On Friday at the Sports Arena, Georgia State volleyball defeated the Troy Trojans in five sets to earn a spot in the Sun Belt tournament. The win is their tenth overall and their eighth in the conference.
UT Arlington also notched a victory over Georgia Southern in four sets earlier in the night, meaning the Panthers controlled their own destiny. With a tournament berth on the line, they capitalized on the opportunity.
“Troy came in ready to play,” Head Coach Sally Polhamus said after the match. “It took us a while to meet their level of competition.”
Instrumental in the victory were the performances of Brianna Jones, Andrea’ Ezell, Morgan Patterson, and Molly Shonk. Jones had eight kills on .538 hitting. Ezell established herself as a defensive presence. Patterson had three digs while Shonk contributed 24 digs to the Georgia State cause.
“This was because of my teammates,” Jones said. “We’ve always been tenacious. No matter what we’re doing, we’ve been told always have resilience no matter what the score is.”
Set One
Georgia State jumped out to an early 3˗1 lead as they were paced with two kills courtesy of Kristina Stinson. The Panthers were also aided by an attack error from Troy’s Symone Shaw. Marija Zelenovic’s first kill along with two Georgia State attack errors gave the Trojans a 4˗3 lead.
After a Trojans service error, Shaw’s first kill of the match along with a service ace from Kelley Curran gave Troy a 6˗4 edge.
Stinson’s third kill along with two from Deidra Bohannon allowed the Panthers to go ahead 7˗6 before a Stinson service error tied the match up at seven apiece.
The two teams would trade the next three points as the match would be tied up at 10 before a 3˗0 Trojans run that included kills from Zelenovic, Blair Winston, and Katie Feemster gave Troy a 13˗10 lead. This prompted the first timeout of the match for the Panthers.
Another Stinson kill along with an ace from Molly Shonk trimmed the Georgia State deficit to 13˗12 prior to Zelenovic’s third kill and a Stinson attack error made the score 15˗12 in favor of Troy.
The ensuing sequence of four plays included Eliza Zachary’s first kill, a service error from Sydney Mauer, Winston’s second kill and Zachary’s second kill for a 17˗14 score.
With the score at 18˗15, kills from Zachary and Bohannon along with a Shaw attack error tied it up at 18, leading to a Troy timeout.
The Trojans would see the first kill of the match from Darby Griff along with a Bohannon attack error to go back ahead by two at 20˗18 prior to a Bohannon score that made the tally 20˗19 in favor of Troy.
A pair of kills from Shaw along with a Panthers error equaled a 3˗0 Troy run and a 23˗19 lead for the Trojans. Bohannon’s 8th kill gave Georgia State its 20th point of the match before an attack error for the Panthers and Zelenovich’s fourth kill clinched the first set for Troy at 25˗20.
Set Two
The first four points would be split evenly between the two teams to begin the second frame before a service ace by Bohannon and a Winston kill would produce a 3˗3 tie.
Ali Dowdall contributed a service ace which was followed by a Panthers attack error for a 5˗3 score in favor of Troy before a pair of errors from Troy led to a 5˗5 tie.
Troy’s Winston and the Panthers’ Zachary was responsible for the ensuing two points for each team as the set was all square at seven before two Georgia State blocks gave them a 9˗7 lead. Troy answered with a 3˗0 run that included Griff’s third kill, a Zachary error, and an Avalon Nero ace. An ensuing kill from Bohannon tied the set up at 10.
After exchanging the following two points, kills from Winston and Griff gave the Trojans a 14˗12 lead before a score from Kitan Ajanaku and a Griff attack error tied the tally up at 14.
Georgia State and Troy would then trade the following three points to knot the score up at 17. The next pair of points would belong to the Panthers as they would see a Stinson ace along with Bohannon’s 11th kill for a 19˗17 lead, which prompted a Trojans timeout.
The twentieth point for the Panthers came courtesy of Zachary’s 6th kill of the match, but Troy disputed that prior to Zachary scoring the point that the ball hit the ground on the Georgia State side of the court. Following the disputed call, three Panthers errors tied the score up again at 20 before Bohannon and Shaw exchanged kills for a 21˗21 score.
Bohannon’s 13th kill and an attack error from Winston made the score 23˗21. After Shaw’s eighth kill, Bohannon’s 14th would force set point for Georgia State before she committed a service error to make the score 24˗23. The ensuing play would be an attack error from Winston that went out of bounds as the Panthers won the second set 25˗23 heading into the intermission period.
| Georgia State | UT-Arlington |
|---|---|
| Bohannon: 14 kills, 6 digs, .364 hitting | Stinson: 6 kills |
| Shaw: 8 kills, 6 digs, .333 hitting | Winston: 7kills,4 digs |
Set Three
The third period would begin with the Panthers assuming a 3˗1 lead that included a kill from Andrea’ Ezell as well as two Troy errors. The first kill in that sequence for the Trojans came courtesy of Zelenovic. A Molly Shonk ace gave the Panthers a 4˗1 lead before three consecutive Georgia State errors tied it up at four.
Zachary’s seventh kill was followed up by Griff’s fourth and two Panthers errors for a 7˗5 Troy advantage. Zachary’s eighth was answered by the Trojans with Winston’s eighth and Griff’s sixth for a 9˗6 Troy lead as Georgia State asked for time. Bohannon and Shaw would then score the next point for their respective teams as Troy went ahead 10˗7.
The Trojans maintained their three point lead and it increased to five at 14˗9 with an attack error from Natalia Nieto and Katie Feemster’s fourth kill. Georgia State would then see kills from Stinson, Zachary, and Bohannon to complete a 3˗0 run to bring forth a 14˗12 score and a timeout from Troy. Three Panthers attack errors and a Troy block would extend the Trojans’ advantage to 18˗12.
A Dowdall service error would be followed by a kill from Blair to bring the Troy advantage to 19˗13. Kills from Zachary and Bohannon along with a Trojans attack error brought the score to 19˗16 before extending out their lead with two Griff kills and one from Shaw.
A Nero service error and two Georgia State errors completed Troy’s 5˗0 run to close out the set and seal a 25˗17 Trojans victory in set three.
Set Four
Troy would begin the fourth frame with a 3˗0 run that included Shaw’s 11th kill, Winston’s tenth and a Panthers error. Ajanaku would provide the first point of the set for the Panthers before Winston answered with her eleventh kill of the match.
Ajanaku’s fourth kill along with a service ace from Shonk cut the Georgia State deficit to 4˗3.
That lead for the Trojans would eventually become 7˗5 before three more Georgia State errors produced a tally of 10˗5 for Troy as the Panthers called timeout.
Georgia State then embarked on a 3˗0 run that included a block credited to Zachary and Ajanaku, a Trojans blocking error and a Panthers ace before Reina Terry’s second kill and an Ajanaku error made the score 12˗8. Bohannon’s nineteenth kill along with a bad set from Terry closed the deficit to 12˗10.
After exchanging the following pair of points, Troy then went on a 4˗0 run that included Zelenovic’s and Griff’s 8th kills each along with two Georgia State errors. This made the tally 17˗11, leading to a Panthers timeout.
Georgia State responded with Brianna Jones’ first kill, Zachary’s 11th, a Shonk ace, and Jones’ second kill. The second kill for Jones included a pair of clutch digs from Bohannon as the Panthers trimmed their deficit to 17˗15 as Troy called timeout.
Off the timeout, the next four plays would see a pair of kills from Jones along with scores from Zachary and Bohannon as the Panthers took a 19˗17 advantage.
The Georgia State lead would grow to 21˗17 off a Griff error and a Shonk ace before a service error from Shonk ended what was a 10˗0 run to make the score 21˗18.
After Zachary’s 13th kill, she committed an attack error which was followed up by one from Shaw for a 22˗20 score. Jones and Shaw then exchanged kills to make the tally 23˗21.
Shaw then put in another score to bring Troy to within one at 23˗22 before a Trojans error and Bohannon’s 22nd kill clinched the fourth set for Georgia State, 25˗22.
“We slowed down their offense by being proactive on defense,” Polhamus said.
Set Five
The fifth and deciding set would begin with both teams scoring a point each. A Winston kill along with a pair of Panthers attack errors would give the Trojans an early 4˗1 lead as Georgia State called a timeout.
Two more kills from Bohannon trimmed the Panthers’ deficit to 4˗3 before one from Winston extended it back out to 5˗3.
Winston and Jones would then put in two kills each as the score became 7˗5 before Shaw’s sixteenth kill and a Jones attacking error gave Troy a 9˗5, leading to a Panthers timeout.
Zachary’s 14th kill was followed by the Trojans going on a 3˗0 run to make the score 12˗6 as Shaw upped her kill number to 18. Her fifteenth, plus a Terry error and an ace courtesy of Zachary cut the Georgia State deficit to three at 12˗9.
The Trojans would score two of the next three points to go ahead 14˗10 before the Panthers notched the following pair of points to make it 14˗12.
But with match point forced on the Trojans’ side, Georgia State would close out the final set with a 4˗0 run to win 16˗14 to earn a berth in the Sun Belt tournament in San Marcos, Texas.
“We talk about the difference between stress and pressure,” Polhamus said. “Stress is what you put on yourself. We talk about being aggressive in pressure situations instead of feeling overwhelmed. We went from being reactive to proactive.”
The Panthers’ final game of the regular season will be on Saturday at the Sports Arena as they do battle with the Appalachian State Mountaineers at 6 p.m.
