Mountaineers volleyball hand Georgia Southern its first conference loss in the series split – The Appalachian

Playing on home court for the first time since Hurricane Helene in Boone and in front of hundreds of raucous Mountaineers fans, App State volleyballers handed rival Georgia Southern its second loss of the season en route to a series split, ending the Eagles’ undefeated streak in the conference stretch.

App State emerged victorious in a five-set match on Friday, winning 16-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-15, 15-11 in a back-and-forth battle.

After a rocky start that saw the Eagles take a big lead in the first set that they refused to relinquish, the Mountaineers came out with a lead in the second set. App State went on a 12-2 run that featured four service aces from redshirt junior setter Addison Heidemann to start the set.

Georgia Southern posed a challenge late, but clutch kills from freshman righty Elise Marchal and freshman outside hitter Bella Hutchens put an end to it and helped the Mountaineers win the second set.

Georgia Southern won the third set thanks in part to a 7-1 run midway through the set that gave them enough cushion to withstand the Mountaineers’ attacks.

App State responded by winning five of the first six points in the fourth set and then went on a 6-0 run in which Hutchens collected three more kills to extend its lead. Sophomore middle blocker Ava Leahy capped the set with back-to-back kills – two of 13 on the day – to tie the score.

In the final set, App State’s dynamic duo — senior outside attacker Lulu Ambrose and junior middle blocker Maya Winterhoff — rose to the occasion where they were needed most. Both players recorded four kills each and combined for more than half of the team’s points in the final set.

Ambrose had arguably her best game of the season, setting her career high with 21 kills as well as two service aces and a block. Winterhoff added 12 kills and three blocks as the Mountaineers improved to 5-1 in games that went five sets, ensuring that no school in the Sun Belt would remain undefeated in conference play.

App State failed to pull out a win, falling to the Eagles in four sets on Saturday, 25-23, 23-25, 21-25, 18-25.

Although three players reached double-digit kills – Winterhoff with 13, Marchal with 12 and Ambrose with 10 – and won the first set, Georgia Southern won the next three sets in a row to save the series split. The way the Eagles did this could be a surprise, as they only had two runs longer than three points: a 4-0 run early in the first set to get within two of the Mountaineers, and set a decisive 6-0 run in the final to move away from app status.

The Eagles doubled the Mountaineers in blocks and aces with 10 and six each compared to App State’s five and three. Georgia Southern also had three players record at least 12 kills, four players with at least 10 digs and three players with three or more blocks.

The win keeps the Eagles atop the Sun Belt East Division.

App State improved to 10-7 overall and 4-2 in Sun Belt play, good for second place in the highly competitive East Division, where all but Marshall have at least a .500 record in conference play.

The Mountaineers’ next challenger is Coastal Carolina, which will visit the Holmes Convocation Center on Thursday and Friday. Both games begin at 6 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.