BOONE, N.C. - The App State volleyball team is set to host rival Georgia Southern on Nov. 4 and 5 at the Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, N.C. Friday's match is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start and will feature a bounce house. Saturday's match will be at 1 p.m. and will include a canned food drive benefiting the Hunger and Health Coalition. Both matches will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers traveled to Norfolk, Va. to take on Old Dominion for the first time in Sun Belt play on Oct. 28 and 29. After dropping Friday's match, 3-0, the Black and Gold bounced back to take Saturday's match, 3-1.
On Friday, senior
McCall Denny led the team with 12 kills. Denny also tied with fellow senior
Sarah Missroon and junior
Meghan Dombrowski for the lead in the blocks category with two apiece. Freshman
Alyssa McBean led the Black and Gold in aces (3) and digs (13). Junior
Sophie Cain led the team in assists with 13.
Saturday's victory saw sophomore
Lulu Ambrose lead the team in kills with 13. McBean led in digs (19), senior
Sam Bickley tied with Cain in the assists category with 23 each, and Cain posted a season-high six aces. Freshman
Maya Winterhoff posted a team-high five blocks. Cain and Denny both recorded double-doubles. As a team, the Mountaineers outpaced ODU in points, kills, aces, blocks, assists, and digs.
McBean recorded the most digs in the conference (32, averaging 4.57 per set) for the weekend's action. Cain recorded the second-most aces in the league for the weekend (six, averaging 0.86 per set). As a team, App State had the second-most aces on the weekend (18, averaging 2.75 per set), and fourth-most digs in the conference (109, averaging 15.57 per set).
So far this season, Denny leads the team in kills (267) as well as aces (29). Cain holds the team-high in the assists category with 477. Freshman
Kenady Roper has recorded 256 digs this fall and Winterhoff has totaled 83 blocks.
Winterhoff continues to hold a spot in the NCAA rankings, checking in at 12th for the week in the hitting percentage category (.413). For the season so far, Winterhoff ranks second in the Sun Belt for her hitting percentage while Missroon checks in at fourth for blocks. In league play, Winteroff is fourth in the hitting percentage category, Missroon is fifth in the blocks category, and McBean is tied for seventh in the aces category and ranks ninth in the digs category.
Last Time Against Georgia Southern
The Mountaineers clashed with Georgia Southern twice last season, falling to the Eagles on Oct. 3 and Nov. 7 with scores of 3-1 on both occasions. On Oct. 3, 2021 in Statesboro, Ga. Denny posted nine kills, 12 digs, three assists and one ace. Ambrose and
Lily Harvey recorded three blocks each. During the Nov. 7, 2021 match in Boone, N.C., App State led Georgia Southern in kills (55-48), assists (46-45), and digs (63-62). Denny recorded a team-high 14 kills and 16 digs for a double-double. Bickley also notched a double-double with a team-high 39 kills as well as the third-most digs (13). She also notched a team-high three blocks.
Scouting Georgia Southern
This season Georgia Southern is 14-8 (6-4 SBC). In non-conference action, GS posted five consecutive sweeps spanning from Aug. 27 to Sept. 3, collecting victories over Alcorn State, USC-Upstate, South Carolina State, UNC-Asheville, and UNC-Greensboro. The Eagles won all three of their matches at the GATA Challenge on Sept. 16-17, sweeping Queens and Saint Francis (Pa.) and defeating Chattanooga, 3-1. Georgia Southern opened SBC play with a pair of road wins against Arkansas State on Sept. 23 and 24. After dropping contests to Coastal Carolina, the Eagles went on a four-match win-streak, picking up a pair of 3-0 sweeps at Marshall (Oct. 14 and 15) and 3-1 victories against Georgia State (Oct. 21 and 22). GS is coming off back-to-back losses to James Madison (Oct. 28 and 29).
Emily Jarome leads the Eagles in kills, posting 274 so far this fall and ranks sixth in the conference for the season and fourth for SBC-only play. Callaway Cason holds a commanding lead on the team in the assists category with 730. Cason ranks fifth in the assists category for the entire season as well as for league action. Ashlyn Lovett, who ranks second in the SBC for the season in both the aces and digs categories, has served up a team-high 41 aces and has tallied 324 digs. In conference-only matches, Lovett checks in at seventh for digs and Grace Underwood is second for aces. Baylor Bumford has totaled a team-high 56 blocks.
Last fall, Georgia Southern went 17-11 (9-7 SBC). The Eagles tallied seven non-conference wins, five of which were 3-0 sweeps. From Sept. 17 to Sept. 25, GS went on a five match win-streak, winning all three matches at the GATA Challenge (Sept. 17-18) as well as road Sun Belt wins at ULM (Sept. 24) and Louisiana (Sept. 25). The Eagles notched three consecutive wins from Oct. 3 to Oct. 15 as well as Nov. 5 to Nov. 12. In the Sun Belt Tournament, the No. 3 seeded Eagles defeated No. 6 seeded ULM, 3-1, in the first round before dropping the quarterfinal match against No. 2 seeded UTA, 3-2.
Up Next
App State returns to the Holmes Convocation Center on Nov. 11 and 12 to take on Louisiana. Friday's match is set for 6 p.m. and will honor veterans and military personnel for Veteran's Day. There will also be a rally towel giveaway. Saturday's match is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will have a t-shirt giveaway. The Mountaineers will also be recognizing their seniors, Bickley, Missroon, and student assistant coach
Morgan Flores, at the Nov. 12th match.
