App State Defeats Louisiana 3-1 as Reilly Reaches 2,000 Career Digs

BOONE, N.C. -- App State volleyball libero Emma Reilly recorded the 2,000th dig of her career as the Mountaineers topped Sun Belt West Division leader Louisiana 3-1 (25-15, 18-25, 25-23, 25-22) on Friday evening in the Holmes Center.

Reilly becomes the first player in program history to achieve the feat. She reached the milestone dig with her 14th of the night and finished with a match-high 23.

Four Mountaineers (6-13, 2-5 SBC) reached double figures in the win. Victoria Wilform tallied 15 kills, Lulu Ambrose and McCall Denny each had 13 kills and Anna Kincaid added 10 kills.

Both Sophie Cain and Denny reached double figures in digs with 13 apiece, to finish with double-doubles. Cain dished out 47 assists in the victory. Denny now has a team leading five double-doubles on the season and Cain has three.

App State opened the match strong and used a kill from Kincaid to jump out to an 8-3 lead. The Mountaineers pushed their lead to eight at 13-5 and didn't let Louisiana (11-5, 6-2 SBC) get any closer than five points the rest of the set, taking the opening frame 25-15.

The Ragin' Cajuns opened an early 7-3 lead in the second set and expanded the lead to 17-8. The Mountaineers pulled within five points late at 22-17, but dropped the set 25-18.

Set 3 featured five ties and two lead changes. Louisiana opened up a 22-18 lead late in the frame, but the. Mountaineers stormed back with a 6-0 run to take a 24-22 advantage. Following an App State attack error, Ambrose clinched the set for the Mountaineers by a 25-23 count with a kill.

The fourth set was also tight and saw App State use a 5-1 spurt to tie the score at 16-16. App State broke a 20-20 tie on a Ragin' Cajun service error and followed that up with a kill from Wilform to open a 22-20 lead. Leading 23-22, App State used an Ambrose kill and Louisiana error to win the set 25-22 and clinch the match.

In all, the Mountaineers totaled 54 kills and hit .161, while Louisiana, the top hitting team in the conference entering the match, hit .162 with 45 kills. 

App State will look for a weekend sweep on Sunday against ULM at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN+. The match will also serve as App State's Dig Pink match, with all donations benefiting the Side-Out Foundation.To donate to App State's campaign, click here. For more information regarding Side-Out, click here.