The Eagles faced off against the Elon Phoenix Friday, September 27. This match was the Southern Conference opener for both teams, and the Eagles managed to pull out a 3-1 win. Jamie DeRatt recorded career high in both kills (23) and digs (19). Nicole Jeschelnik also had an impressive night finishing with 11 kills and a career-high 20 digs.
The Eagles took the first two sets easily, but the Phoenix weren’t going to give up without a fight. Going into the third set, Georgia Southern lead the way with a score of 18-13 until Kris Harris (Elon) pushed the Phoenix to an 8-3 lead over the Eagles. GSU tied up the score 21-21, and a kill by Ally Karle (Elon) pushed the Phoenix to a 25-27 win.
The fourth set highlighted the Eagles’ offense as they quickly took a five point lead. After the start of the game, the Eagles never let the score dip below three points. Sophomores Katie Bange and Christina Vereb had back-to-back kills to end the game for the Eagles.
Georgia Southern also hosted the University of North Carolina at Greensboro on Saturday (Sept. 28). Truly one of the most exciting games of the season so far, the Eagles battled the Spartans for five sets and came out victorious.
The first game proved to be an easy set for the Eagles as they finished 25-18. They couldn’t hold on to the lead, however, in the second set falling 20-25 to the Spartans. Libero Katherine Santiago (UNCG) posted 28 digs during the match and held the Spartans together during their fight against the Eagles.
After a brief halftime, the Eagles regrouped and took the third set from the Spartans, but several hitting and serving errors let the momentum fall back to the Spartans during the fourth set sending the teams to a fifth set battle.
The Eagles started strong and after a few questionable calls by the officials, pushed past the Spartans for their second SoCon win of the season. Jeschelnik recorded 16 kills for the Eagles, while DeRatt added 15 to the scoreboard.
