BOONE, N.C. – Despite seeing sophomore
MeMe Davis record her 1,000th career dig, App State Volleyball fell in four sets (25-22, 16-25, 26-28, 18-25) to the Georgia State Panthers on Saturday. The Mountaineers won the first set, but the Panthers rebounded well and maintained momentum for much of the match.
Georgia State 3, App State 1
On top of Davis' career milestone, which came in set three of the match, App State (13-10, 4-8 Sun Belt) saw high-level performances from senior
Maya Winterhoff and sophomore
Lou Johnson, with each recording double-digit kills on a .400 or better hitting percentage. Senior
Ali Morris led the Mountaineers in kills with 13, while fellow senior
Keionna Mackey and sophomore
Bella Hutchens each recorded six kills. Redshirt senior
Addison Heidemann teamed up with junior
Maria Contreras for 46 of App State's 49 assists, and both Heidemann and Davis tallied double-digit digs.
The Mountaineers capitalized on two straight Panther (14-9, 5-7 Sun Belt) errors to open the match with a 2-0 lead, before eventually seeing Winterhoff, Johnson and Morris propel them to a 7-4 lead. Hutchens recorded her first kill of the match to make the score 8-5, and Winterhoff slammed home a kill to push the score to 10-7 a few points later. Georgia State tallied four of the next five points of the game to tie the score at 11, but an error and a kill by Redshirt freshman
Maddie Smith helped App State take a one-point lead. After a kill by Georgia State's Shanelle Martinez, the Mountaineers scored four straight points to go up four and generated momentum heading into the final stages of the set. The Panthers eventually tied the score at 22, but back-to-back kills by Morris clinched the first set, giving App State a 1-0 lead in the match.
Not backing down from the early deficit, Georgia State came out of the break and scored the first seven points of set two. Kills by Johnson and Mackey put the Mountaineers on the board, but Georgia State quelled the brief rally by scoring three of the next four points to take an 11-3 lead. App State clawed back to trim its second-set deficit to 12-8 thanks to three errors and a Hutchens kill, before getting within two to force a Panther timeout. Georgia State used the pause in the action to regain its composure and scored seven of the next eight points to reclaim an eight-point lead. The Mountaineers scrapped back to make the score 21-16, but Georgia State closed out set two with a 25-16 win.
App State scored the first point of the third set off a Johnson hammer, and Morris and Winterhoff tallied each of the next four Mountaineer points to put them up 5-4. A kill by Akira Burt knotted the score at five before Winterhoff preceded a Georgia State error with a kill to push the Mountaineers ahead by two. Trailing by its largest deficit of the third set, Georgia State recorded three straight points to jump ahead 9-8, but Hutchens helped force another lead change with a kill. Another Hutchens kill put App State ahead 11-10, but the Panthers scored four straight to take a 14-11 lead. In a third set full of runs, App State used a 4-0 run of its own to take the lead right back at 15-14. Both teams split the next three points, and then App State went on a 6-1 run over the next seven points, putting it up five and within three points of set point. Now trailing by five, Georgia State scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 25-24 lead. App State answered with two straight to take the lead right back, but a trio of kills by the Panthers helped give them a 2-1 advantage in the match.
Back-to-back kills by Johnson started the fourth set for App State, but it was Georgia State that took an early five-point lead as it tallied eight of the first 11 points of the set. Contreras helped stop a Panther run with a kill, and then Morris' ace made it a three-point game, 8-5. An error halted the brief App State push for a moment, but Mackey and Contreras helped kick off a 3-0 run, making it a one-point game by the first stoppage of the set. App State eventually tied the score at 11 thanks to a kill and an ace by Mackey, but the Panthers recorded six straight points after the score was tied to take a six-point advantage. Winterhoff and Morris recorded kills for App State as part of a 3-1 run to cut into the deficit, and Contreras made it a five-point game with a kill. App State used two errors to close the gap down to 23-18, but the Panthers tallied the game's final two points to secure the match.
Looking Ahead
The Mountaineers now look to a road trip to Marshall for a series with the Thundering Herd next Thursday and Friday. Thursday's match is slated to start at 1 p.m., while Friday's contest is at 4 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.
