Georgia Southern Wins SoCon Volleyball Championship

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Jamie DeRatt’s double-double helped Georgia Southern take home the 2013 Southern Conference Championship with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 16-25, 25-23) win over Samford.

DeRatt finished with 22 kills and 14 digs to earn Most Outstanding Player honors for the tournament. Nicole Jeschelnik also posted a double-double, scoring 11 kills and 12 digs in the Eagle win. Katie Bange hit .545 and notched 13 kills to help lead the offensive attack.

First-year head coach Dustin Wood and the Eagles earned the fourth SoCon title in school history and their first since 2010. GSU held Samford to a .154 hitting percentage in the title match and got 10 team blocks in a solid defensive effort. Alexandra Beecher (25), Lauren LaRocque (14), DeRatt (14) and Jeschelnik (12) all finished with double-digit digs in the contest.

The Eagles trailed 20-17 in the final set before they scored five of the next seven points to tie the match at 22. An ace from Beecher and a Samford attack error gave the Eagles match point. Samford’s Michaela Reesor would pull Samford within one, but DeRatt’s kill gave the Eagles the match and the conference title.

In the opening set, the Eagles rolled off a 9-1 run to take a 20-10 lead, highlighted by three Katie Bange kills. Samford tried to rally with a three-point streak of its own, but the Bulldogs could not generate enough momentum to erase the deficit, ultimately dropping the set 25-17. Bange accounted for seven kills on eight attacks to hit .875 in the set to lead the Eagle offensive attack. The GSU defense was also effective, holding the Bulldog offense to a .065 hitting clip in the frame and scoring four blocks.

GSU took the second set 25-18 thanks to a 7-2 run to close the set. The Eagles got a pair of DeRatt kills and a kill from Bange, as well as three Samford attack errors to earn set point before getting an ace to close the frame. Samford hit .136 in the set and made seven attack errors on 44 attack attempts.

Samford’s defense set the tone in the third set, holding GSU to a .091 hitting clip in the frame. The Bulldogs lead 13-12 before rattling off six straight points, four of those points coming on GSU errors. Bognar got two kills and GSU committed three more errors before Mattie Newson got an ace to take the set and cut the Eagle lead to 2-1, but the Bulldogs could not carry the momentum into the final set, falling 25-23.

Reesor led the Bulldogs with 19 kills, while Bognar chipped in 13. Chelsi Carter led the defensive effort with 24 digs.

DeRatt earned Most Outstanding Player honors, as well as a spot on the All-Tournament team. Teammates Kym Coley and Bange also received All-Tournament honors. Samford’s Carter and Reesor, along with Appalachian State’s Emily Corrigan and Furman’s Christina Dorismond were also All-Tournament selections.

Georgia Southern will learn its place in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday Dec. 1, as the NCAA Selection Show will take place at 9:30 a.m. on ESPNU.

2013 All-Tournament Team
Emily Corrigan, Appalachian State
Christina Dorismond, Furman
Katie Bange, Georgia Southern
Kym Coley, Georgia Southern
Jamie DeRatt, Georgia Southern
Chelsi Carter, Samford
Michaela Reesor, Samford

Most Outstanding Player
 Jamie DeRatt, Georgia Southern