BOONE, N.C. - App State volleyball opened the Appalachian Invitational with a five-set win over Eastern Kentucky Friday.
"To pull out that win after losing the third and fourth set being up 2-0 was huge, because we had to earn it," head coach
Matt Ginipro said. "EKU was not giving us a lot of points, and we had to earn every single one of them. That fifth set effort and the fight was fantastic."
The Mountaineers soared out of the gates early winning the first two sets with back-to-back 26-24 set efforts. Eastern Kentucky would rally to tie the contest at two sets apiece, winning the third 25-17 and winning the fourth 25-19.
"What happened in the third and fourth set, we were more worried about losing and making errors than just playing to win that point," Ginipro said. "We kind of went back to a mentality of last year when we were stressing out and weren't coming together. So, I was really glad that we came back and fought back at the end of the fourth and carried that momentum into the fifth."
App State found its winning formula in the fifth for an eventual 15-11 set win and match victory. The Black and Gold outscored the Colonels 9-5 in the final set after being in a deadlock tie at 6-6.
Three Mountaineers recorded double-digit kills on the night,
Lily Harvey (10),
Victoria Wilform (11) and
McCall Denny (12). Although Eastern Kentucky edged the Mountaineers in total kills and digs, App State bested Eastern Kentucky in total blocks down the stretch and in overall total, 10-7.
"We were struggling blocking their middles, and I felt like we should be getting more blocks," Ginipro said. "I told Tess (
Tessa Hill) that I was throwing her into her first collegiate match in the fifth set after she was on the bench for fourth. I said I just need you to block, because that's one of her strengths. Sure enough, Tess went in and got us two blocks in the fifth, which was huge."
The Mountaineers will close out the Appalachian Invitational Saturday with two matches. App State will face Radford at 12:30 p.m. and then square off against UNCG at 7 p.m. UNCG defeated Radford three sets to one in the first Friday match.
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