Box Score BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State University volleyball fell for the first time this season and the first time at home since a five-set loss to Missouri on Sept. 12, 2015. The 3-1 loss to Arkansas State also marks the first Sun Belt Conference loss that Appalachian has suffered since Nov. 27, 2014 to UT Arlington in the Sun Belt tournament a year ago.

The Mountaineers (20-5, 13-1 Sun Belt) had its 16-match win streak snapped with the loss and also moved into second place in the conference standings.

“We made way too many statistical and game plan errors which you can't do against a very good Arkansas State team,” said head coach Matt Ginipro. “This was going to be an execution match and they out-executed us. We played well in the second set and in spurts other times, but we are going to need to be more consistent against them on Thursday.”

Ginipro continued, “The positive is that the result of this match didn't change anything about our future. We are still at the top of the standings, we can still win the regular season and we will be the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. We just need to bounce back, learn from this match and get back in the gym tomorrow.”

Jess Keller lead the Mountaineers on Sunday afternoon with 18 kills, while Emily Corrigan finished with 12. Paige Brown paced the offense, as she has all season, with 40 more assists on the day.

The opening set began as many would expect, a see-saw battle between the top two teams in the conference. With each team matching points, it was the Red Wolves (24-1, 15-0 Sun Belt) that would be able to garner a small advantage after a 5-1 run opened up a 15-10 lead for A-State. Appalachian wouldn't be to overcome that run and fell in the first set 25-18.

In a game of runs, Appalachian State found its own in the second set. After points matched on both side, App State went on a 8-1 run and opened up a 12-5 lead over the Red Wolves. The run was sparked by back-to-back kills from Keller, while Corrigan and Alana Shoff also recorded kills.

Then, the Mountaineers engineered another solid 10-5 run and really made it difficult on the Red Wolves with a 22-10 advantage. This time it was the same contributors for the Mountaineers as Keller, Corrigan and Shoff found kills for the Apps.

Up 24-12 and on the verge of a set victory, A-State managed a 4-0 run to force a Mountaineer timeout. Out of the break, Keller finished the set and tied the match with her seventh kill of the set.

The third set was an intense back and forth battle with both teams constructing runs to try and take momentum in the match. A-State got off to a quick 8-3 lead to force an App State timeout. Out of the timeout, the Mountaineers attempted to chip away at a strong Red Wolves team. A 7-2 run from the Black and Gold fueled by kills from Ashton Gregory and Shoff brought the A-State lead to 12-10.

A-State maintained its lead and extended it to five at 19-14 to force another App State timeout. The Mountaineers would rally and bring it to within one point on two occasions, but the Red Wolves staved off the Apps each time and finished off the set with a kill from Kelsey Reis to take it 25-23.

The Red Wolves again got out to a fast start in the fourth set and took a quick 6-3 lead. The Mountaineers would close the gap and eventually bring it to a tie at 11-11 with the help from Keller notching three kills in that span.Tied again at 13-13, the Red Wolves would construct a 4-0 run that really seemed to deflate the Mountaineers and force a timeout.

Up 17-13, A-State extended its lead to six at 20-14 and really put the pedal to the metal and finished the set off with a 25-17 win.

Brown finished with her 16th double-double of the season with a team-high 21 digs. Meghan Mahoney finished with 17 digs, while Olivia Reed and Corrigan finished with 16 and 12 digs, respectively. Corrigan tallied her ninth double-double of the season.

Both of the Sun Belt's top teams will meet again on Thursday, Nov. 12 when the Mountaineers travel to Arkansas to face-off against both Arkansas State and Little Rock to finish off the regular season.