STATESBORO, Ga. – Appalachian State volleyball kept itself atop the SoCon North Division standings with a 3-1 victory at Georgia Southern on Saturday, Oct. 8 at Hanner Fieldhouse.

The Mountaineers (12-7, 4-1) won their second-straight SoCon match and improved to 8-2 in their last 10 matches while the Eagles (11-10, 3-2) dropped just their second match in their last 10.

Appalachian led by as many as four points on two separate occasions in the first set before Georgia Southern rallied to take a 18-17 lead in the late stages. The Mountaineers would respond by reeling off three-straight points to snag a 20-18 lead.

GSU was able to grab a 22-21 lead and put Appalachian on the ropes, but ASU rallied to score five of the final seven points and take a hard-fought, 26-24 win. The first set featured 14 ties and six lead changes, the most of any set during the match.

The second set looked as if it would be an easy win for the Mountaineers after they built a 24-18 lead, but the Eagles roared back with five unanswered points to make it 24-23. Meghann Forshey put the set away with one of her seven kills on the evening.

The Eagles raced out to a 4-0 lead in the third set and cruised to a 25-17 win. The third set was the only set of the evening that did not see a single tie score or lead change.

Appalachian was able to jump out to an 11-7 lead in the fourth and final set before Georgia Southern tied it twice in the late stages of the set. With the set knotted at 21-21 Alison Blasingame and Kelly Rhein picked up back-to-back kills to break the deadlock and give the Apps a 23-21 lead.

GSU came within a point of tying the match at 24-23 but a service error on the potential match-tying point gave Appalachian a 25-23 set victory and the match win.

Anna Wagner led all players with 15 kills and also recorded 17 digs in the match. Blasingame picked up 13 kills while Kasey Sauls led the team with 33 assists and recorded two service aces. Courtney Rhein notched a match-high 26 digs.

As a team, Appalachian hit .266 while Georgia Southern hit .253. The Mountaineers recorded four blocks to GSU's five and fell one service ace short of a season-high with seven.

Appalachian State returns home for a match against Western Carolina at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 12. The match marks the first of three-straight SoCon home matches for the Apps who also face Furman (Oct. 15) and Wofford (Oct. 16) next week.