After wins at home over Texas State and Louisiana˗Lafayette, Georgia State volleyball continued its winning streak as they swept the Troy Trojans on the road. It is the Panthers’ seventh victory overall on the season and fifth in Sun Belt competition.
Set 1
A pair of errors from the Panthers would give the Trojans an early 2˗0 advantage. Troy would eventually score four of the set’s first six points. Kills from Natalia Nieto, Eliza Zachary, and Deidra Bohannon contributed to Georgia State evening the score at six points apiece.
The Panthers and Trojans would continue to stay knotted up as the score would become eight points apiece. A service error from Sydney Mauer along with a kill from sophomore outside hitter produced a 10˗8 Troy lead and a timeout from Georgia State head coach Sally Polhamus.
Kills from Bohannon and Kristina Stinson cut the Panthers’ deficit to 11˗10, but the Trojans would expand their lead back out to three at 15˗12 with a trio of Georgia State errors plus an ace from Ali Dowdall.
Troy’s lead would grow to 17˗13, leading to another Georgia State timeout. Junior setter Tinelle Waggoner set the stage for a kill from Darby Griff to make the score 18˗13 before Stinson, Book, and Bohannon closed the gap with three straight Panthers kills to make the tally 18˗16, prompting Trojans head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick to call time.
A Trojans attack error would make the score 18˗17 before a kill from Shaw made the Troy lead expand back out to two. An attack error from the Trojans plus kills from Bohannon and Zachary gave the Panthers their first lead of the set at 20˗19.
An ensuing Georgia State service error made the score 20˗20. The two teams would trade the next four points each as the set was all square at 24 apiece. Two Troy errors would allow the Panthers to claim the first set, 26˗24.
Set 2
The second frame would also be close out of the gate as both teams traded the initial three points. It would later see ties where the two teams were knotted up at five and seven points apiece.
The score would later be tied at eight, before a Nieto kill, two errors by the Trojans and an ace from Mauer equaled a 4˗0 Panthers run for a 12˗8 score. In hopes of slowing down the Georgia State momentum, Troy called timeout.
Errors by Mauer and Stinson cut their lead to two at 12˗10 before kills from Zachary and Bohannon expanded it back out to four at 14˗10. As the set progressed, Troy would notch four of the following six points to bring their deficit to 16˗14.
An attack error from senior outside hitter Marija Zelenovic plus another Bohannon kill led to another timeout from the Trojans as the Panthers assumed an advantage of 18˗14.
That lead would expand to 20˗15 with a ball handling error charged to Troy and a kill assessed to Andrea Book. A kill from sophomore middle hitter Kiah Cheatham along with ensuing kills from Shaw and Griff allowed the Trojans to close the deficit to 21˗18.
After a Georgia State timeout, Troy scored again to make the score 21˗19 after another Shaw kill. Later in the match, the Panthers would get two kills from Zachary to force set point at 24˗22. Blair Winston and Kiah Cheatham came up with kills to make the score all tied at 24 as Georgia State called timeout.
Cheatham’s following kill put Troy ahead by one at 25˗24 to force set point, but Bohannon made the second set all square at 25 again. Winston allowed the Trojans to retake the lead at 26˗25 before Book knotted the set at 26 apiece. Stinson followed that up with a kill for a retaking of the lead by Georgia State at 27˗26. The Panthers would win the set 28˗26 after an error by Waggoner, as the match entered the Intermission period.
Set 3
The third and final period of this Sun Belt match would commence with both teams trading the first trio of points. Bohannon contributed a kill and the Panther cause was helped by a bad set from Waggoner as Georgia State took a 5˗3 lead.
A pair of errors against Winston allowed the Panthers’ lead to grow to three at 7˗4. Shaw put in a kill and a Bohannon error shrunk the Georgia State lead to 8˗7.
But the Panthers would extend it back out to three as they saw advantages of 10˗7 and 13˗10. After Troy cut the lead back to two with a Winston kill, Georgia State’s lead increased to four as Book put in a kill and the Panthers were helped out by a Winston error. That made the score 15˗11.
After a Trojans timeout, they would notch three of the next four points with the lone Georgia State score coming courtesy of a kill from Kitan Ajanaku. With a Shaw error and a Zachary kill, the Panthers went ahead 18˗14.
The 18˗14 lead became five at 20˗15 with a Stinson kill and Griff attack error. The lead would be maintained at 21˗16. Later as the set neared its closing moments, a Stinson attack error would bring the Trojans to within 23˗20 as they scored four of the following six points. An Ajanaku kill and an attack error from Waggoner sealed the deal for Georgia State for a 25˗20 win.
Final Stats
Bohannon finished with thirteen kills and eight digs. Zachary had ten kills. Stinson put in eight and Ajanaku had seven along with a .353 hitting percentage.
Shaw finished with eleven kills while Winston put in nine to aid the Trojans’ cause. Cheatham had seven kills along with a hitting percentage of .375.
The Panthers will next take to the court on Friday as they face the UT Arlington Mavericks at 6 p.m. from the Sports Arena.
