Volleyball Bested by Buccaneers in Four Sets

BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University volleyball dropped a 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 25-27, 17-15) decision to East Tennessee State on Friday afternoon inside the Holmes Center.

The Mountaineers (2-4) had three players finish with double-digit kills and were led by Lexi Kohut who tallied 17 kills. Melissa McMath and Kara Spicer rounded out the App State offense with 15 and 13 kills, respectively.

Ashlyn Brown picked up her fifth double-double of the season with 42 assists and 11 digs.

On the defensive side of things, Olivia Loeffler had a team-high 12 digs and Sydney Farthing made 11 digs.

Down 14-13 in the middle of the first set, a kill by McMath sparked a 5-0 run that inlcuded back-to-back serves from Spicer to drop in for an ace.

ETSU (2-3) tied it up at 17-17, but the Mountaineers used another 5-0 run to take a commanding 22-17 lead. The Buccaneers would respond with two points, but back-to-back kills by Cassidy Stephenson and a Kohut kill sealed a first set win for the Mountaineers. With that set win, Appalachian has yet to lose an opening set this season.

The Buccaneeers seemed to try and stall the Mountaineer momentum from the first set and jumped out to an 18-11 lead in the second. Appalachian made a 4-0 run that included three Kohut kills to get to within three points of ETSU. However, the Buccaneers would pull away for a 25-19 win.

Kohut continued to lead the Mountaineer attack in the third set and pick up five early kills to help take a 12-7 lead. ETSU would claw back and take its own lead at 14-13. 

Both teams traded points for the remainder of the set until the Buccaneers forced a set-point up 24-23. It seemed that ETSU would take the set on an App State attack error, but head coach Matt Ginipro challenged that the Buccaneers touched the ball before it went out. The play was overturned, but ETSU would use an App State service error and a kill to take set three, 27-25.

With a 2-1 lead in the match, ETSU kept its foot on the gas in the fourth set. The Buccaneers jumped out to a 13-7 advantage and finished off the Mountaineers 25-17 to clinch the match.

The Mountaineers will play one last match as part of the Appalachian Invitational tonight against Virginia at 7:00 p.m.