LAFAYETTE, La. -- New season. New venue. Same result.
For the second straight season, Appalachian State volleyball overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Louisiana 3-2 (17-25, 13-25, 30-28, 25-23, 16-14) in a Sun Belt road crossover matchup on Friday evening. Last season, the Mountaineers found themselves down 2-0 to Louisiana in Boone, before storming back for a 3-2 victory. On Friday, the same script presented itself, with App State overcoming another 2-0 deficit to defeat the Ragin' Cajuns 3-2.
After dropping the first two sets, the Mountaineers (7-9, 3-0 SBC) found themselves down nine points at 17-8 in the third set. App State scored four straight points to pull within five at 17-12, only to see the Ragin' Cajuns (5-11, 1-2 SBC) score the next two points to take a 19-12 lead. Then Mountaineers answered with the next eight points to take a 20-19 lead and had a set point at 24-23. Louisiana won the next two points to set up a match point, before a kill from
Grace Morrison tied the frame at 25-25. The Black and Gold saved two more match points and with the score knotted at 28-28, got a kill from
Sam Bickley and a service ace from
Kara Spicer to win the stanza 30-28.
Set 4 saw Louisiana score three straight points to break a 9-9 tie and take a 12-9 lead. App State chipped away the lead and got a kill from
Emma Longley to tie the match at 18-18. After two Ragin' Cajun points, App State scored the next three points to open a 21-20 advantage. Louisiana took a 23-22 lead late in the frame, but the Black and Gold won the final three points, getting a pair of kills from Spicer and one from Longley, to force a fifth and deciding set.
The fifth and final set saw the Ragin' Cajuns jump out to a 5-2 lead and hold an 8-5 edge as the two teams switched sides. App State responded with a 6-1 run to build an 11-9 lead. The Mountaineers opened a 14-12 lead, but saw Louisiana win the next two points to knot the score at 14-14. On the next point, App State took a 15-14 lead on a kill from Longley and then saw Louisiana have a bad set to clinch the frame and complete the comeback.
Longley led the Mountaineers with a season-high 24 kills on a .310 hitting percentage. She added 15 digs for her team leading sixth double-double of the season.
Victoria Wilform added 14 kills and Spicer finished with 12 on a .345 hitting mark.
Bickley finished with 55 assists and six digs. On defense,
Emma Reilly tallied a career-high 29 digs and moved into seventh place on the all-time digs list.
Grace Kinsch added nine digs and
Sydney Farthing chipped in with seven.
App State will look to remain perfect in Sun Belt play on Sunday with a 1 p.m. EST match at ULM.
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