Georgia Southern Wins Southern Conference Championship

Georgia Southern Wins Southern Conference Championship

BOONE, N.C. - In the Southern Conference Volleyball Championship, the Georgia Southern Eagles swept the College of Charleston Cougars, 3-0 (25-18, 31-29, 25-20).  With the win, the Eagles claimed its third SoCon title and its first since 2003.

Georgia Southern's win snapped the SoCon regular season champion College of Charleston's 15-game winning streak. 

The Eagles played behind the strong performance from Sarah Gildersleeve, Bethany Sanford and Kate Van Dyke, who all were named to the all-tournament team.  In the match, Gildersleeve had five kills, four block assists and one dig.  Sanford tallied 22 kills, four digs and one block assist.  Van Dyke, who was named the tournament MVP for her outstanding play on the weekend, had 50 assists, four kills and three digs in the Eagles championship win. 

In a losing effort, College of Charleston had strong play from Elyse Chubb and Sarah Havel, who were both named to the all-tournament team.  In the match, Chubb had 13 kills on 23 attempts with no errors for a .565 hitting percentage and one block assist.  Havel tallied nine kills on 17 attempts with no errors for an attack percentage of .529.  She also recorded four block assists and one service ace. 

In the first set of the championship match, Georgia Southern jumped out to an early lead by capturing five of the first six points and winning the set, 25-18.  The Eagles never trailed in the set and led by as many as 10 points behind the strong play of sophomore setter Van Dyke, who tallied 16 assists and two digs.

In a highly contested second set, the Eagles fought off five College of Charleston set points to win, 31-29.  The set saw 19 ties and seven lead changes, and Georgia Southern rallied for three straight points after being down 28-29 to take the 2-0 set advantage.  Leading the charge for the Eagles in the set was junior outside hitter Sanford, who recorded 11 kills on 18 attempts with two errors for a .500 attack percentage.  The second team all-conference member also contributed with four digs in the set.

In the third set, Georgia Southern used a late surge to win the set, 25-20.  Trailing 17-19, the Eagles won eight of the last nine points to complete the sweep of the Cougars.  Sanford once again hit for .500 in the set with her six kills on 10 attempts and one error.

As a team, Georgia Southern had 57 kills on 55 assists and hit for .372 to claim the Southern Conference's automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.

Georgia Southern improves to 27-8 on the year while the College of Charleston falls to 29-6.  The Eagles will find out its opponent in the 2010 NCAA Tournament at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 29.

2010 All-Tournament Team

Sarah Schermerhorn, Elon

Kayren Finney, UNCG

Elyse Chubb, College of Charleston

Sarah Havel, College of Charleston

Sarah Gildersleeve, Georgia Southern

Bethany Sanford, Georgia Southern

Kate Van Dyke, Georgia Southern

2010 Tournament MVP

Kate Van Dyke, Georgia Southern