STATESBORO, GA – Improving to 10-1 inside Hanner Fieldhouse while snapping an overall two-match skid, the Georgia Southern volleyball team handled the Appalachian State Mountaineers Saturday afternoon (October 24) with ease. The three-set sweep pushed the Eagles to 16-8 overall and 6-3 against Southern Conference opponents, while ASU fell to 9-14, 5-4.
Holding the Mountaineers to a dismal .072 attack percentage for the match, the Eagles were led by Lauren Claybaugh (Danville, Calif.) and Moriah Bellissimo (Blackstone, Va.), who posted a combined 19 kills. Sophomore Claybaugh registered 10 kills on only two errors, hitting .333, while freshman Bellissimo added nine kills, striking .227 from the floor.
Pacing the hitters, freshman setter Kate Van Dyke (Shawnee, Kan.) racked up a match-high 30 assists in the three sets, while senior libero Cristin Haines toned the defense with 17 digs. Bethany Sanford (Avondale, Ariz.) added 14 digs in the winning effort as Van Dyke picked up 11.
Maja Jechorek led ASU with eight kills on 29 attempts, while Kasey Sauls tallied 23 assists. Picking up a team-high 10 digs, Cassie Engelgau led the defensive end for the Mountaineers.
“I thought we played a well-rounded match, limiting our errors and executing our initial game plan for the match,” said head coach Chad Calliahn. “I thought Moriah [Bellissimo] did a nice job having just switched positions. It was nice to see the level of consistency she played with coming in to a new position.”
A tight battle ensued in the opening set as both teams kept the set score close. ASU quickly capitalized on two attack errors from the Eagles to take a 2-0 advantage, but a pair of Mountaineer errors erased Georgia Southern’s deficit. ASU pulled out with the lead, holding a slight advantage until consecutive Eagle kills from Bellissimo and Sarah Gildersleeve (Naples, Fla.) knotted the score at 10-apiece. A service ace on behalf of Haines pushed the Eagles into the lead as Georgia Southern pulled away from ASU. At 19-16, Bellissimo’s third kill of the set succeeded by an ASU error forced the Mountaineers to call a timeout at 21-16. ASU closed the gap to within three points at 23-20 before a bad set by Maggie Seeds gave the Eagles match point. The Mountaineers fought off two Georgia Southern match points before Claybaugh closed out the opening set, 25-22, with her fifth kill of the stanza.
A pair of service errors opened the second set before Georgia Southern took control. Both teams exchanged leads before Claybaugh tied the set at 5-all, giving the Eagles their final lead of the stanza. Georgia Southern slowly pulled away from ASU taking advantage of 10 Mountaineer errors, while committing only two itself. Leading by as many as 10 at 20-10, the Eagles closed out the set on a Claybaugh kill, taking a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
Neither team held more than a three-point lead to begin the third set as the Mountaineers crawled from behind to tie the score at 8-all. Sanford put the Eagles on top before consecutive Jechorek kills set the score at 10-apiece. Before the Eagles took the final match lead, the teams tied the score twice following 10-all. At 18-16 Georgia Southern, six consecutive Mountaineer errors gave the Eagles match point at 24-16. Becca Norris registered a kill for the Mountaineers before Claybaugh finalized the match for the Eagles at 25-17, securing the win.
The Eagles have a quick turnaround playing host to Western Carolina on Sunday, October 25. Match time is slated for 2 p.m.
