Playing on home court for the first time since Hurricane Helene impacted Boone and in front of hundreds of raucous Mountaineers fans, App State volleyball served rival Georgia Southern their second loss of the season en route to a series split, ending the Eagles’ undefeated streak in conference play.
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 shaky start that saw the Eagles get out to a large lead in the first set which they wouldn’t surrender, the Mountaineers came out swinging 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 mounted a challenge late, but clutch kills from freshman right side Elise Marchal and freshman outside hitter Bella Hutchens put a stop to that 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, giving them enough of a cushion to withstand the Mountaineers’ attacks.
App State responded by winning five of the first six points in the fourth set, then going on a 6-0 run which saw Hutchens collect three more kills to extend their advantage. Sophomore middle blocker Ava Leahy capped off the set with back-to-back kills — two of 13 of the day — to even the match.
The final set saw App State’s dynamic duo — senior outside hitter Lulu Ambrose and junior middle blocker Maya Winterhoff — rise to the occasion when they were needed the most. Both players recorded four kills each and combined for more than half of the team’s points in the final set.
Ambrose arguably had her best game of the season, tying her career-high in kills with 21, along with two service aces and a block. Winterhoff added 12 kills and three blocks as the Mountaineers improved to 5-1 in games that went to five sets, and ensured no school in the Sun Belt would go undefeated in conference play.
App State was unable to pull off the sweep, falling to the Eagles in four sets on Saturday, 25-23, 23-25, 21-25, 18-25.
Despite three players reaching double digits in kills — Winterhoff with 13, Marchal with 12 and Ambrose with 10 — and winning the first set, Georgia Southern comfortably won the next three straight sets to salvage the series split. The way the Eagles did so might come as a shock 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 a crucial 6-0 run in the final set to pull away from App State.
The Eagles doubled up the Mountaineers in blocks and aces, with 10 and six respectively compared to App State’s five and three. Georgia Southern had also had three players who recorded 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 standings.
App State moved to 10-7 overall and 4-2 in Sun Belt play, good for second in the highly competitive East Division where all but Marshall has at least a .500 record in conference play.
The Mountaineers’ next challenger is Coastal Carolina, who will visit the Holmes Convocation Center Thursday and Friday. Both games will start at 6 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.
