Georgia State volleyball prevailed over their in˗state and conference rival Georgia Southern with five sets on Saturday in Statesboro, Ga.
It is the second victory for the Panthers over the Eagles this season Georgia State now has eight wins in the season and six in Sun Belt play.
Set 1
Kristina Stinson and Eliza Zachary began the match with kills to put the Panthers ahead 2˗0 in the early going. Georgia Southern’s Cathrine Murray along with two errors from Stinson put the Eagles ahead 3˗2 before Zachary tied it up at three apiece.
The Panthers and Eagles would continue to trade points as the score became all square at five apiece. After being tied at six, Georgia State was the beneficiary of a pair of Georgia Southern attack errors plus Andrea Book’s first kill of the match to go ahead 9˗6. Kym Coley’s second kill of the match ended the Panthers run to make the score 9˗7.
After a kill from Leah Joseph, Megan Chevalier contributed to the Eagles cause with a pair of kills to tie the set at 10 apiece. One from Jamie Deratt gave Georgia Southern a one point advantage at 11˗10.
Georgia State then embarked on a 4˗0 run that included kills from Zachary and Kitan Ajanaku along with an attack error from Joseph and a service ace courtesy of Gabby Serafin. This led to a 14˗11 Panthers lead and an Eagles timeout.
Chevalier then had an attack error that made the game 15˗11 in favor of Georgia State. Serafin then committed a service error that made the score 15˗12. But kills from Book and Zachary along with a Murray attack error led to an 18˗12 lead for the Panthers.
Eagles head coach Dustin Wood called timeout with the momentum on Georgia State’s side of the court. Stinson was then credited with a kill after a blocking miscue from Chevalier, but that was followed up by a service error courtesy of Sydney Mauer for a 19˗13 Panthers lead.
The Eagles would score two more points with a service ace from Avery Stephens and Coley’s third kill of the match. Kills from Zachary and Bohannon gave the Panthers a 21˗15 lead before a Chevalier kill and a service ace from Ashley Jones led to a 21˗17 score and a timeout from Georgia State head coach Sally Polhamus.
Zachary’s sixth kill of the match was followed up by a pair of Panthers errors before Bohannon and Deratt traded kills. This sequence led to a 23˗20 score. Georgia State would get kills from Bohannon and Ajanaku to claim the first set 25˗20.
Set 2
Georgia State would begin the second frame as they did the first, with an early 2˗0 lead. That lead became 4˗1 with a Mauer service error, a Stinson kill, and a Coley attack error. Zachary’s seventh kill along with Molly Shonk’s first made the score 6˗1, which led to a Georgia Southern timeout.
The Eagles then embarked on a 6˗1 run of their own that included two kills from Deratt to tie the set at 7 apiece as the Panthers asked for time.
Ajanaku’s following kill would give Georgia State the lead for a short moment before Coley’s fourth and a Bohannon error gave Georgia Southern its first lead of the set. Bohannon then followed that up with a kill to tie the set at nine apiece.
Later in the second set, the two squads would be all square once again as the score became 13˗13. A Chevalier attack error along with Bohannon’s eighth kills and a pair of aces from Shonk allowed the Panthers to gain a four point advantage at 17˗13.
After a timeout from Georgia Southern, Serafin contributed her second point of the match for an 18˗13 lead. Deratt’s seventh kill made the score 18˗14. The ensuing sequence would see three of the next five points awarded to Georgia State as they took a 21˗16 lead.
Bohannon would then commit an attack error along with Deratt and Murray earning kills to bring the score to within 22˗19 leading to a Georgia State timeout.
Zachary put in her eleventh kill, but Murray’s seventh and a Bohannon attack error brought the score to 23˗21.
Murray hoped to lead an Eagles rally with two consecutive kills but they came in between two kills from Zachary as the Panthers won the second set 25˗23 entering intermission.
Set 3
Unlike the first two sets, the Eagles would begin this one with an early 4˗1 lead that included Coley’s sixth kill and three Panther errors. These miscues would continue from both sides as Georgia Southern’s lead became 5˗2.
The Eagles maintained their three point advantage with 6˗3 and 7˗4 leads. Bohannon’s eleventh kill and a Natalia Nieto service ace would trim the Georgia State deficit to 7˗6 before Georgia Southern scored four of the next five points to go ahead by four at 11˗7. This led to a Georgia State timeout.
Stinson’s fourth kill, a Deratt attack error, and a Mauer ace brought the Panthers to within one at 12˗11 before Deratt extended the Georgia Southern lead to two at 13˗11 with her ninth kill.
An attack error charged to Bohannon was followed up by Stinson’s fifth kill and a pair of Eagles attack errors to tie the set at 14, prompting a timeout from Georgia Southern.
The score would remain tied at 15 before Deratt’s tenth and Chevalier’s eighth kills gave the Eagles a 17˗15 lead. An attack error from Chevalier and a Nieto ace would tie it again at 17.
Georgia Southern would assume a 19˗17 with kills courtesy of Murray and Chevalier, which was her ninth. But, Bohannon earned her twelfth kill as it along with a pair of Eagles errors gave the Panthers a 20˗19 lead, leading to a timeout from Georgia Southern.
A service error from Bohannon would follow the timeout and put the set at 20 apiece. The Eagles would score three of the set’s next four points as the only Georgia State score would come off an error from Georgia Southern.
Nieto was charged with a ball handling error forcing set point at 24˗21. Stinson then followed that up with her sixth kill along with an Eagles error to make the score 24˗23 Georgia Southern. The Eagles would win the third set 25˗23 with an attack error charged to Zachary.
Set 4
Kym Coley began set number four with ninth kill which then led into a Nieto error for a 2˗0 lead for Georgia Southern. Zachary’s 13th kill put the Panthers on the board before Joseph maintained a two point advantage with a kill of her own.
With the score at 3˗1 Eagles, a Joseph attack error and two Ajanaku kills helped the Panther cause as they closed to within one at 5˗4. A pair of kills from Deratt led a 4˗0 run as Georgia Southern went ahead 9˗4.
A kill from Murray along with an attack error from Stinson made the score 11˗5 in favor of the Eagles before two Georgia Southern errors closed the gap to 11˗7. A pair of errors from Zachary increased the lead for Georgia Southern to 13˗7.
With the score at 15˗9 Eagles, the Panthers would score three consecutive points including kills from Bohannon and Ajanaku to close the deficit to 15˗12.
Scores from Deratt and Chevalier, who would have two in the ensuing sequence, would make the match 18˗13 before Chevalier committed an attack error to give Georgia State its fourteenth point.
Coley would give Georgia Southern its nineteenth point. The Eagles made the tally 20˗15 before a Zachary kill and an attack error from Coley. The same two events would happen later in the match as the score would become 21˗19 as the Panthers scored four of the following five points.
Deratt would give the Eagles a 22˗19 lead before a 3˗0 Panthers run that included two Georgia Southern attack errors tied the match at 22.
After an attack error from Georgia State, an Ajanaku kill and a Deratt attack error would force match point for the Panthers. Murray came up big for Georgia Southern with three consecutive kills to score a 26˗24 victory for the Eagles.
Set 5
The Panthers and Eagles exchanged the first two points of the fifth and final set before a Dobbeck service error, an Ajanaku kill, and a service ace from Nieto gave Georgia State a 5˗2 lead, prompting a Georgia Southern timeout.
Murray then committed an attack error to make the score 6˗2. After another Deratt kill, two Georgia Southern errors and a Book kill made the tally 9˗3 in favor of the Panthers.
The lead would become 11˗5 as both teams exchanged the next two points. The next play would be a kill from Zachary to make the Georgia State lead 12˗5, but she would commit two attack errors as the Eagles closed the deficit to 12˗9 for a 4˗0 Georgia Southern run.
Zachary’s nineteenth kill and a service ace from Shonk made the tally 14˗9 to force match point. The Eagles would then stave off two match points via a Zachary error and Coley’s thirteenth kill, but Zachary closed the match with her twentieth kill for a 15˗11 victory for the Panthers.
| Georgia State | Georgia Southern |
|---|---|
| Zachary: 20 kills, .302 hitting | Ajanaku: 14 kills, .406 hitting |
| Deratt: 17 kills | Coley: 13 kills, .321 hitting |
The Panthers will take to the court on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. from the Sports Arena as they take on Arkansas State.
