App State volleyball opened the Sun Belt Conference season by welcoming the James Madison Dukes to Boone. The two teams traded match wins on Friday and Saturday with each team winning a match 3-1.

The first matchup saw the Mountaineers lose the first set 25-21 but win the next three matches 25-23, 25-19 and 25-23. The Mountaineers were led by senior outside hitter Keionna Mackey with 15 kills in the match and sophomore libero MeMe Davis achieving a 50% success rate on her hits. 

Game two stayed close until the Black and Gold pulled away at 22-20 put the game away. A serve error from JMU gave the Mountaineers match point which led to a kill from senior middle blocker Maya Winterhoff to steal the game.. 

Game three was dominated by the Mountaineers. After an early 10-10 score, App State won the next 15 points 11-4. Winterhoff secured another game point, this time by a serving ace. 

The final game of the match mirrored game two with the teams tied up until 22-22. At that scoreline, App State was able to get a kill on 3 of the next 4 possessions and win the game 25-23. 

The win on Friday brought the Black and Gold to 4-0 in Boone to start the year.

The second match against JMU was not as kind to the Mountaineers as Friday was, as they only won the second game in the match. Winterhoff led the team on Saturday with 19 points and 7 blocks. 

All four games were close with each team reaching 20 points. App State saw another strong start to the game, taking a 14-10 lead but they ended up losing due to JMU taking 15 of the next 22 points. 

Games two and three both saw each team take a 25-22 win. Game two saw the Mountaineers get a taste of their own medicine as JMU kept the game close and ended up getting critical kills at the end to win their second straight game. 

The first App State win of the match saw the team get out to an early 18-12 lead and kept the Dukes at arms length to win. 

The theme of the weekend was close matches with one team making crucial plays to put games away. The Dukes were able to continue that trend as 3 crucial errors from App State in the final 8 possessions led to JMU game and match victory. 

App State continues Sun Belt Conference play as they head down south to face off against Louisiana Friday and Saturday. Each game is crucial in the team’s upcoming conference schedule as the east division holds four teams already above ten wins. The matches against Louisanna will start at 7 p.m. and 2 p.m. EST with the game on Friday streaming on ESPN+.