BOONE, N.C. -- App State volleyball fell to Arkansas State in its Sun Belt opener by a 25-21, 25-16, 25-14 score on Friday evening.
Prior to the beginning of the match, App State honored libero
Emma Reilly on becoming the program's all-time digs leader. Reilly recorded her program record 1,870th digs on September 18 at ECU to become the program's career leader.
A trio of Mountaineers (4-9, 0-1 SBC) registered double figure digs. Reilly led the way with a team-best 14 digs.
Sophie Cain added 11 digs and 20 assists for her second consecutive double-double.
Grace Kinsch chipped in with a season-best 10 digs.
Offensively,
Lulu Ambrose tallied six kills and
Anna Kincaid also had six kills, while hitting .267.
McCall Denny added five kills for App State.
Arkansas State (10-3, 1-0 SBC) jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the opening set. App State battled back to tie the score at 19-19 off a block solo from
Lily Harvey. The Red Wolves won the next three points to take a 22-19 lead, before App State answered with kills from Denny and Ambrose to pull within 22-21. From there, the Red Wolves won the final three points to win the opening set 25-21.
Set 2 saw Arkansas State take an early 7-3 advantage. Leading 11-8, the Red Wolves went on a 9-1 spurt to take control of the set en route to a 25-16 victory.
The third set saw Arkansas State open a 9-5 lead. App State responded with a kill from Kincaid and service ace from Denny to pull within 9-7. Arkansas State used a 6-0 run later in the set to build a 20-10 lead and never looked back, taking the final frame 25-14.
Josie Stanford paced the Red Wolves with a match-high 13 kills, while Lauren Musante tallied a double-double with 16 assists and 15 digs.
App State will return to action on Sunday and host Little Rock at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
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