JONESBORO, Ark. – Georgia State's volleyball team lost 3-0 (19-25, 16-25, 20-25) Friday night to the third-place team in the conference, Arkansas State. The Panthers struggled to overcome 26 errors and a .147 hitting percentage in the loss.
Sophomore Kristina Stinson had an efficient night for the Panthers. The outside hitter hit a career-high .429 with seven kills. Junior Deidra Bohannon led the team with eight kills and 13 digs and junior Eliza Zachary added seven kills with two blocks. Senior Andrea Book also had a nice match for GSU with four kills on .378 hitting.
“Simply put, we got outplayed by a high-IQ Arkansas State team,” head coach Sally Polhamus said. “It's our job to control our side of the net. The team is looking forward to Sunday so we can rebound and continue to grow and get better.”
NOTING THE PANTHERS
· Deidra Bohannon finished just shy of a fourth straight double-double. The junior recorded eight kills and 13 digs.
· Kristina Stinson's .429 attack percentage was a new career-high for the sophomore. Stinson got a few good lucks from setters Natalia Nieto and Annie Ellis and was able to take advantage and find holes in the Red Wolves' defense.
Arkansas State saw great performances from a pair of freshman. Drew Jones finished with 12 kills on .571 hitting and Jessica Uke had nine kills while hitting .538. The Red Wolves held a team hitting percentage of .292 and had just 12 attack errors.
Georgia State got off to a slow start in Set 1. The Red Wolves won the first five points to open the match and never trailed. The Panthers began to settle in and went on a four-point run to make it 18-12, and pulled within five at 22-17, but would eventually fall 25-19.
The Panthers opened up Set 2 with a 3-1 advantage after an ace from sophomore Molly Shonk. Arkansas State made some adjustments on offense and came back with three-straight points to take an 11-8 lead. Arkansas State would run away with the second set, winning 25-16 and taking a 2-0 lead in the match.
Georgia State battled in Set 3, but the Red Wolves once again never trailed and won the set 25-20 to complete the 3-0 sweep. The Panthers tied the set at 15 on junior Deidra Bohannon's 6th kill and trailed by one at 21-20. That would be as close as GSU would get, however, as A-State closed things out on a 4-1 run.
GSU (4-13, 2-6 SBC) stays on the road for a Sunday meeting with conference-leader UALR. The Trojans (12-4, 6-0 SBC) host the Panthers at 1 p.m. ET in Little Rock, Ark.
