BOONE, N.C. -- Appalachian State volleyball defeated Georgia State 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-18 in its Sun Belt opener on Friday evening in the Holmes Center.
The win pushes the Mountaineers (5-9, 1-0 SBC) win streak in conference openers to three.
Emma Longley paced the Mountaineer attack with 17 kills and a .366 hitting mark.
Kara Spicer added 15 kills on a .355 hitting percentage,
Grace Morrison finished with 10 kills and
Victoria Wilform added nine.
Sam Bickley posted a double-double with 44 assists and 11 digs, to go along with six kills. On defense,
Emma Reilly tallied 22 digs, with
Sydney Farthing adding 10. In the victory, Reilly also moved into 10th place on the all-time digs list and currently sits in a tie for ninth with 1,174 in her career.
Georgia State (4-8, 0-1 SBC) jumped out to a 20-14 lead in Set 1, only to see the Black and Gold pull within a point at 22-21. The Panthers pushed their lead to 24-21, but kills from Longley and Morrison pulled the Mountaineers within a point. A kill from Sydney Stroud of Georgia State gave the Panthers the opening frame and a 1-0 lead.
In the second set, App State broke a 7-7 tie with three straight points. The Mountaineers pushed their lead to as many as five points, but Georgia State trimmed the Mountaineer lead to two points at 24-22. A kill from Longley clinched the second set by a 25-22 count and knotted the match at a set apiece.
In the third stanza, the Black and Gold broke a 3-3 tie with a 7-1 spurt. App State built as large of a lead as eight points and never looked back, winning the set 25-18 to take a 2-1 advantage.
The Panthers opened a 5-3 lead early in the fourth set, but App State won the next two points to tie the score at 5-5. Leading 16-15, the Black and Gold used a 5-0 run to open a 21-15 lead, getting kills from Morrison, Wilform, Spicer and Longley along the way. The Mountaineers did not let the Panthers get closer than five points the rest of the way, taking the set 25-18 to clinch the victory.
In all, the Mountaineers posted 62 kills, which is the third most this season, and hit .288, which is second best.Â
App State will eye its second straight 2-0 Sun Belt start on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. against Georgia Southern in the Holmes Center. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+.
