Volleyball Moves to 5-0 in Sun Belt with 3-1 Victory at Arkansas State

JONESBORO, Ark. -- Emma Longley and Sam Bickley each posted double-doubles as Appalachian State volleyball remained perfect in Sun Belt play with a 3-1 (27-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-15) victory at Arkansas State on Friday evening.

The Mountaineers are now 9-9 on the season and are just one of two unbeaten teams left in Sun Belt play along with Coastal Carolina. The Black and Gold's 5-0 start in conference play is its best since the 2015 season, when the Mountaineers won their first 13 conference matches.

Longley finished with a match-high 20 kills, while adding 11 digs. She now has a team leading seven double-doubles this season and has posted 20 or more kills in five matches.

Bickley, who has been named Sun Belt Volleyball Freshman of the Week the past two weeks, finished with 49 assists and a career-high 14 digs. She now has five double-doubles this season.

Victoria Wilform tallied 14 kills, Grace Morrison added 10 and Kara Spicer finished with nine. On defense, Emma Reilly had a match-high 19 digs, Grace Kinsch had seven and Sydney Farthing had six.

In the opening set, the Red Wolves opened an 18-13 lead. The Mountaineers used a 4-0 spurt later in the set to tie the score at 21-21. Arkansas State won the next two points, only to see App State come right back with three consecutive points to take a 24-23 lead. The Red Wolves won the next point and with the score knotted at 25-25, the Black and Gold got a kill from Anna Kincaid and a ball handling error to win the first set 27-25.
 
In Set 2, App State broke a 9-9 tie with six straight points to open a 15-9 edge. The Red Wolves countered with the next five points, but the Mountaineers responded with two straight points to open a 17-14 advantage. Arkansas State tied the set at 23-23 and held a set point, but a kill from Wilform knotted the set at 24-24. The Mountaineers then got an attack error and another ball handling error to win the final two points to take the set and a 2-0 lead.

Set 3 saw the Red Wolves break a 5-5 tie with three straight points. App State cut its deficit to two points at 11-9, before Arkansas State scored five straight points to build a 16-9 lead. The Red Wolves went on to force a fourth set with a 25-15 victory in the third stanza.

App State scored three straight points early in the fourth set to open a 3-1 advantage and used a 5-0 run later in the set to open a 12-5 lead. The Mountaineers used a 4-0 spurt to open a 22-12 edge. After three straight Arkansas State points, the Black and Gold used a kill from Wilform and two straight kills from Spicer to clinch the victory.

The Mountaineers tallied 55 kills and hit .212 in the win, while limiting the Red Wolves to a .125 hitting mark.

App State will have a quick turnaround and will take on Little Rock tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m. EST.