BOONE, N.C. --
Kara Spicer tied her season-high with 19 kills and
Emma Longley added 17 as Appalachian State volleyball posted a 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-17) victory over South Alabama on Friday evening.
Spicer finished with a .516 hitting percentage, which is her third best this season. She also had 19 kills in a 3-1 win over Georgia Southern last Friday.
Longley added 11 digs to go along with her 17 kills for her third straight and team leading 12th double-double of the season.
Victoria Wilform had nine kills,
Daryn Armstrong had a career-high seven and
Grace Morrison chipped in with six kills.
In all, App State (12-16, 8-7 SBC) hit .314 in the contest, marking the third time the Black and Gold have hit over .300 in a match this season.
South Alabama (20-9, 11-4 SBC) broke a 15-15 tie in the first set with three straight points. App State responded with the next three points to tie the score at 18-18. The teams split the next two points, before the Jaguars scored five straight to take a 24-19 advantage, eventually winning the set 25-20.
Set 2 featured 11 ties and five lead changes. With the score deadlocked 21-21, App State got a kill from Longley and block assists from Armstrong and Morrison to take a 23-21 lead. Following a Jaguar point, the Mountaineers used a kill from Armstrong and an attack error to clinch the set 25-22 and tie the match at 1-1.
In Set 3, the Mountaineers scored three straight points to build an 18-14 edge. App State slowly continued to pull away and won the final two points of the frame to take the set 25-17 and open a 2-1 lead.
The Mountaineers took a commanding 10-4 lead in the fourth set, thanks to a 4-0 run. South Alabama cut the App State lead to three points at 15-12, but the Mountaineers used a block from Spicer and kill from Armstrong to push their advantage to 17-12. The Jaguars pulled within three points again at 19-16, before the Black and Gold scored four consecutive points to open a 23-15 lead. An attack error on match point from South Alabama gave App State the set 25-17 and match 3-1.
Sam Bickley dished out 50 assists, to go along with five kills and seven digs.
Emma Reilly tallied a match-high 22 digs and
Sydney Farthing added nine digs.
App State will conclude the regular season on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The Mountaineers will also honor Farthing and Longley as part of Senior Day festivities prior to the beginning of the contest.
