BOONE, N.C. – On a highly emotional night, Appalachian State University volleyball channeled its energy and swept Georgia Southern in straight sets on senior night to clinch back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since 2005-2006. The triumph also pushed Appalachian's win streak to 16 matches, which ties the program record.

With the victory, the Mountaineers (20-4, 13-0 Sun Belt) also remain undefeated in conference play to set the stage for a colossal matchup against Arkansas State (23-1, 14-0 Sun Belt) on Sunday inside the Holmes Center.

“I'm proud of this group for tying the longest win streak in volleyball program history. Hopefully, we can set a new record with 17 wins on Sunday,” said head coach Matt Ginipro. “I thought we played well tonight with just a few lapses which allowed Georgia Southern to gather some momentum. Having to battle to win the third set actually helps us since it made us realize we can't take any plays off in order to achieve our goal. I'm still harping on little defensive plays which are going to mean big points as we head into the Sun Belt championships.”

Ashton Gregory led the way with a match-high 17 kills and a whopping .667 attack percentage, thanks in large part to Paige Brown's 43 assists. Brown's assist percentage for the match was a staggering .500 percent.

Appalachian State jumped out to a quick 8-3 lead in the opening set, mostly fueled by Gregory and Emily Corrigan combining for five kills during the run. Out of an Eagle timeout, the Mountaineers continued their dominance with another large 10-2 run, this time getting Jess Keller involved with five kills, including three consecutive at one point.

Basically trading points the rest of the set, Keller clinched it for the Apps at 25-14 with a kill - giving the senior seven for the set.

Much like the first set, Appalachian got off to a strong start in set two with a 10-4 run to open things up. Only up one at 3-2, three consecutive kills from Corrigan, Gregory and Keller got things rolling for the Black and Gold. Following a Georgia Southern timeout at 10-4, the Mountaineers and Eagles would match points, 9-9, to move the set to a 19-12 advantage for Appalachian.

During that stretch, the Apps would get kills from Alana Shoff and Cassidy Stephenson, while back-to-back kills from Gregory would force another Eagle timeout.

The Apps would stave off the Eagles the rest of the way 6-5 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match into the break.

The third set would prove to the most competitive of the match. Georgia Southern would get out to an early 3-1 lead, however, the Black and Gold would quickly close the gap and after a see-saw battle would lead 10-9. The Mountaineers would use two kills from Gregory and a kill from Corrigan combined with three Eagle errors to open up a 16-10 advantage.

The Eagles would begin to close the gap and try and swing the momentum in their favor and force another set. Georgia Southern would put together an 8-2 run to take a 20-19 lead. The set would be tied six times the rest of the way with the Mountaineers having three different chances to close out the Eagles, but not succeeding.

With the score 25-25, back-to-back kills from Keller would clinch the set and the match for the Mountaineers.

Corrigan and Keller finished second behind Gregory with 13 kills each. With her kills, Corrigan moved into sole possession of sixth all-time in program history with 1,315 career kills. Meghan Mahoney led the defense with 14 digs, while Brown tallied yet another double-double with 12 digs of her own. Olivia Loeffler also finished with double-digit digs with 10.

Gregory tallied two more blocks and continues to lead the squad with 65 this season.

Appalachian State will return to action on Sunday, Nov. 8 when its squares off against No. 20 Arkansas State for a battle of Sun Belt Conference unbeatens on ESPN3. First serve is slated for 12:30 p.m. from the Holmes Center.