Appalachian State, Georgia Southern Move To Semis

 

Georgia Southern 3, Elon 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Georgia Southern held Elon to a -.026 hitting clip on its way to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-16) sweep in the opening round of the Southern Conference Volleyball Tournament.

The No.1 seeded Eagles managed eight blocks and 50 digs as a team, led by Nicole Jeschelnik’s 14 digs. Elon’s -.026 was the lowest hitting mark allowed by Georgia Southern this season.

Jeschelnik also led the GSU offensive attack, posting nine kills in the win. Katlin Minnerly passed out a game-high 30 assists.

Elon was led by Cali Estes and Chanelle Smith, who both made seven kills in a losing effort. The Phoenix commited 29 attack errors and only 26 kills on 115 total attacks as a team.

The Eagles held Elon to a .083 hitting mark and got five kills from Coley to take the first set 25-18. Elon came within two, cutting the lead to 17-15 lead, but a six point run from the Eagles proved too much to overcome. GSU took advantage of eight attack errors from the Phoenix and hit .317 as a team to start the match with a 1-0 lead.

Georgia Southern worked up a 19-13 lead in the second set before exploding for six straight points to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Eagles defense was stingy, posting five blocks and 18 digs in the frame. Elon struggled to find a rhythm offensively, hitting -.175 in set two. Elon committed 12 errors and managed only five kills on its 40 attacks during the set.

GSU took the third set 25-16, highlighted by Katie Bange’s four kills on five attacks. The Eagles used a 4-0 run to open the final frame and added another 4-0 run to push their lead to 18-11 before closing out the win.

Georgia Southern's senior class now has 96 wins in their careers, the highest mark for a four-year class in school history.

With the win, Georgia Southern advances to Saturday’s semifinal against No. 5 seed Appalachian State at 5 p.m. The Mountaineers defeated UNCG 3-0 in the first match of the opening round. Georgia Southern took both regular season matches against the Mountaineers, winning 3-2 on Oct. 18 and 3-0 on Nov. 16.

 

 

Appalachian State 3, UNCG 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Emily Corrigan posted 20 kills to pace Appalachian State, as the Mountaineers defeated UNCG 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-11) on Friday to earn a spot in Saturday’s semifinals of the Southern Conference Volleyball Tournament.

Corrigan hit .386 for the match, while teammate Lindsey Sauls posted a .407 hitting clip and 11 kills to lead ASU’s offensive attack. Paige Brown dished out 36 assists in the win. App hit .358, committing just eight errors in 109 attacks.

The Spartans hit just .164, committing 19 attack errors in a losing effort. Karrian Chambers led UNCG offensively with 11 kills and Katherine Santiago posted 14 digs.

Appalachian State took a 10-9 lead in the opening set, before extending its lead to 17-12, highlighted by a pair of Emily Corrigan kills. Two kills by Chambers and Sarah Hohman’s ace helped UNCG cut the lead to 19-16. That was as close as UNCG would get, as ASU used Lindsay Sauls’ three kills and a Spartan service error to move the lead to 24-19 before Emily Corrigan’s kill gave the Mountaineers the set win. 

The Mountaineers hit .679 in the opening frame, and were led by Sauls, who smashed seven kills on nine attacks. Chambers scored five kills for the Spartans, who as a team committed four blocking errors in the set.

In the second set, UNCG fell behind 14-9 before rattling off three straight points to cut the Mountaineer lead to three. The Spartans would shorten the lead to two points four different times throughout the second set, eventually battling back to make the score 24-23. Corrigan would get a kill to kill the comeback for the Spartans and give the Mountaineer’s the 25-23 win. ASU hit only .157 in the set, but held UNCG to just a .122 hitting percentage in the second frame.

ASU ran away with the final set, earning a 25-11. The Mountaineers used two four point runs to seal the win, the second of which pushed the lead to 21-9. Corrigan notched seven kills in the final frame to finish with 20 on the day.

The Mountaineers will face the winner of Georgia Southern and Elon in the semifinals at 5 p.m. on Saturday.