BOONE, N.C. - The App State volleyball team is set to open Sun Belt Tournament action in Friday's quarterfinal round. As the East Division's Nov. 1 seed, App State will take on the East's No. 5 seed Georgia State at 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. CT) at the Foley Event Center in Foley, Ala.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers split their last regular season matches against Troy, defeating the Trojans in a five-set thriller on Nov. 14 before falling short in four sets on Nov. 15.
In App State's penultimate regular season match, the Black and Gold downed Troy, 3-2, as five Mountaineers made double-figure kills. Freshman
Elise Marchal led the team with a career high 15 kills. She also recorded a hitting percentage of .464, went up for seven blocks, and served up three of the Black and Gold's six aces. Junior
Maya Winterhoff made a team high nine blocks and slammed down 13 kills. Redshirt junior
Addison Heidemann tallied her ninth double-double with 48 assists and 18 digs, which were team highs in both categories. As a team, the Mountaineers outpaced Troy in blocks (12-6) and took an edge over the Trojans in kills (64-60), assists (59-56), digs (68-65), and aces (6-5).
The Mountaineers fell short to Troy, 3-1, in the regular season finale. Senior
Lulu Ambrose's 1,000th career kill highlighted the match and she led the team with 13 kills on the night. Following her was Winterhoff and Marchal, who each slammed down 11 kills. Additionally, Winterhoff recorded a hitting percentage of .500. Marchal recorded a double-double, adding 13 digs to her 11 kills. Heidemann accounted for 42 of the Mountaineers' 47 assists and made 15 digs for a double-double of her own. Junior
Kenady Roper led the team in the digs category, making 19.
Last Time at the SBC Tournament
In the 2023 Sun Belt Tournament, the No. 6 seeded Mountaineers swept No. 7 seeded ULM, 3-0, in the first round before falling to No. 3 seeded Troy in three sets in the second round.
Around the Mountain
The Sun Belt Conference announced the season's awards and all-conference winners on Wednesday, which featured
Elise Marchal as Freshman of the Year and a quartet of All-SBC honorees. Marchal is the second Mountaineer to earn the SBC's Freshman of the Year honor after App State joined the league in 2014. App State's first SBC Freshman of the Year selection was Winterhoff in 2022. Additionally, Marchal earned Second Team All-SBC honors. On the court, Marchal leads the Mountaineers in aces (32), is second on the team in digs (262), and third in kills (221 total, averaging 2.21 kills per set) and blocks (68 total, two solo, 66 assists.) Marchal has eight double-doubles this fall.
Winterhoff, who earned First Team All-SBC honors this fall, continues to lead the Sun Belt and ranks 35th in the NCAA in hitting percentage (.381). Winterhoff is App State's kills leader with 289, averaging 2.89 per set. She also ranks seventh in the league in blocks per set (1.01) and ninth in total blocks with 101 (16 solo, 85 assists).
Heidemann and Leahy earned Second Team All-SBC honors alongside Marchal. Heidemann rounds out the Sun Belt's top five in assists per set (8.73) and total assists (785). Additionally, Heidemann has tallied 10 double-doubles on the season. Leahy has 215 kills this season, averaging 2.17 kills per set, and has a hitting percentage of.303. She stands second on the team in the blocks category with 81 (nine solo, 72 assists).
Roper leads the team with 302 digs on the season, averaging 3.02 digs per set.
The Mountaineers stand 61st in the NCAA's RPI rankings. Around the conference, App State remains third in hitting percentage (.234) and fifth in kills per set (12.90). The Mountaineers rank eighth in team kills (1,290) and assists per set (11.75), and ninth in aces per set (1.41).
Scouting Georgia State
Friday's match will mark the first meeting of App State and Georgia State in the Sun Belt Tournament. The Mountaineers' pair of wins over the Panthers during the regular season were part of their seven-match win-streak that had spanned from Oct. 24 to Nov. 14. In Atlanta, the Black and Gold defeated GSU in four sets on Nov. 1 and came out victorious over the Panthers in a five-set thriller on Nov. 2.
Keionna Mackey leads the team with 338 kills, averaging 3.05 kills per set. She also leads the team in aces, tallying 36 on this year. Leading the team in assists is Shanelle Martinez. She has 620 assists this fall, averaging 5.49 assists per set. Kaleigh Fitzgerald leads the team in digs with 430 (4.13 per set) and Myllena Torquetti leads the Panthers in blocks with 88 (17 solo, 71 assists).
The Panthers (17-12, 7-9 SBC) advanced to the tournament's quarterfinal round after edging past the West's No. 4 seed, Troy, 3-2, in Thursday's afternoon first round match. GSU had capped the regular season with a pair of victories over ULM on Nov. 14 and 15, snapping a four-match losing streak that had lasted from Nov. 1 to Nov. 9. In conference play, Georgia State had split with James Madison (Oct. 4 and Oct. 5), fell short to Coastal Carolina (Oct. 11 and 12), and won four in a row between Oct. 18 and 26 with a pair of wins over ODU and a pair over Marshall.
Looking Ahead
The winner of Friday's match will advance to Saturday's 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) semifinal match and will face the winner of Friday's 12 p.m. ET (11 a.m. CT) match between No. 2 seeded Texas State and No. 3 seeded James Madison.
2024 Sun Belt Volleyball Tournament Schedule & Results
Nov. 21-24, 2024 | Foley, Ala. | Foley Sports Tourism Complex
First Round Results
(5E) Georgia State 3, (4W) Troy 2
(4E) Coastal Carolina 3, (5W) Southern Miss 1
Quarterfinal Results
Match 3 - 12:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. CT) - (2W) Texas State vs. (3E) James Madison
Match 4 - 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. CT) - (1E) App State vs. Winner Match 1
Match 5 - 5:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. CT) - (1W) Arkansas State vs. Winner Match 2
Match 6 - 8 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. CT) - (2E) Georgia Southern vs. (3W) South Alabama
Semifinals - Sat. Nov. 23
Match 7 - 3:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. CT) - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4
Match 8 - 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CT) - Winner Match 5 vs. Winner Match 6
Championship - Sun. Nov. 24
Match 9 - 4:00 p.m. ET (3:00 p.m. CT) - Winner Match 7 vs. Winner Match 8
