By Katherine Jamtgaard. FOLEY, Ala. – The No. 1 seed App State volleyball team opened play in the Sun Belt Tournament with a 3-2 (28-26, 21-25, 25-22, 15-25, 15-8) victory over No. 5 seeded Georgia State in Friday’s quarterfinal round. With the win, the Mountaineers advance to Saturday’s semifinal match against the West Division’s No. 2 seed Texas State. It will mark App State’s first appearance in the semifinal match since the 2018 tournament. Saturday’s match is slated for 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
“We’re super excited to be advancing to the semifinals after a five-setter. We thrive in five-setters. We’ve done a good job in them all year and today was no different,” said head coach Sarah Rumely Noble. “I’m super proud of our team for always finding a way to win. We talk about that all the time, to just find a way. They did that today and that’s what matters when you’re in a championship segment.”
App State 3, Georgia State 2
Junior Maya Winterhoff led the team with 15 kills and recorded a hitting percentage of .313 on the day. Senior Lulu Ambrose and sophomore Ava Leahy matched with 14 kills apiece and hitting percentages of .333. Leahy also led the team in blocks, totaling seven (two solo, five assists). Redshirt junior Addison Heidemann accounted for 54 of the Mountaineers’ 57 assists and junior Kenady Roper tallied a team high 22 digs. Sophomore Caroline Farthing served up three of App State’s nine aces.
The Mountaineers outpaced the Panthers in kills (61-56), aces (9-7), and assists (57-53). The Black and Gold also held the Panthers to three kills in the fifth and final set.
Ambrose opened the first set with a solo block. App State took a 6-2 lead, building off kills from Winterhoff and Leahy and a block from the duo of Heidemann and Leahy. Georgia State managed to catch up and take an 11-10 edge with a 5-0 run. Over the course of the set, the Mountaineers and Panthers knotted the score 14 times. Kills from Winterhoff and Ambrose gave the Mountaineers a 21-20 edge. The Mountaineers reached set point (24-23) after a kill from Marchal and a pair of kills from Leahy. Georgia State managed to knot the score at 24 all. Heidemann set Hutchens up for a kill to push App State ahead, 25-24. As the Panthers knotted the score at 25 all, a Winterhoff kill pushed the Mountaineers ahead, 26-25. GSU managed to knot the score one last time before a kill from Ambrose and a Panther error clinched the set for the Mountaineers, 28-26.
In the second set, the Mountaineers and Panthers knotted the score 12 times and swapped the lead seven times. App State took an early 2-0 lead after a kill from Ambrose and a Winterhoff ace. Another Ambrose kill and a Marchal ace kept App State up, 4-3. As GSU took an 8-6 lead, the Mountaineers answered with a 6-0 run that included kills from Winterhoff, Hutchens, and McNear as well as a block from the duo of Winterhoff and Marchal. GSU found momentum midway through the set to take a 13-12 edge, but a solo block from Winterhoff and a trio of kills from Ambrose pushed App State ahead, 16-15. Despite kills from Leahy and Winterhoff, Georgia State took the set, 25-21.
Winterhoff opened the third set with a kill. The Mountaineers and Panthers tied on six occasions and swapped the lead twice. App State broke a 7-7 tie with a 6-0 run that included back-to-back kills from Leahy, a kill from Hutchens, a block from the duo of Heidemann and Leahy, and an Ambrose ace. As GSU chipped away at the lead, the Mountaineers built off kills from Hutchens and Marchal, a block from the duo of Marchal and Leahy, a block from Leahy and Ambrose, and a solo block from Leahy to take a 22-17 lead. Kills from Leahy and Winterhoff, in addition to a GSU error, sealed the set for the Mountaineers, 25-22.
In the fourth set, App State and Georgia State traded the lead twice. The Mountaineers took an early 5-3 lead after a Marchal kill, back-to-back aces from Farthing, and a GSU error. Georgia State found momentum to take a 20-13 lead despite a quartet of kills from Winterhoff. Leahy and Ambrose slammed down kills, but it wasn’t enough as Georgia State took the set, 25-15.
App State got to work in the fifth and final set, only allowing Georgia State a 2-1 lead. The Mountaineers went on a 7-1 run, building off a trio of Ambrose kills, a block from Marchal and Winterhoff, a GSU error, an Ambrose ace, and a kill from Hutchens. The Black and Gold extended its lead to 13-5 after a kill from Marchal, a block from Leahy and Marchal, and a trio of GSU errors. Heidemann set Leahy up for a kill, which brought the Mountaineers to set point (14-6). Leahy made the final kill to clinch the set 15-8, and the match 3-2.
Scouting Texas State
App State is 1-1 against Texas State in the Sun Belt Tournament. App State and Texas State first met in the semifinal round of the 2015 tournament, where the Mountaineers swept the Bobcats on the road to the championship. The Mountaineers and Bobcats met again in the 2018 SBC Championship. App State fell short the Texas State in three sets.
The Mountaineers and Bobcats last met during the 2021 campaign, but App State fell short in four sets. Texas State leads the series, 8-3.
Ryann Torres was named the 2024 SBC Setter of the Year and earned First Team All-SBC honors alongside Samantha Wunsch and Jade Defraeye. Torres leads the team with 976 assists (10.27 assists per set) while Wunsch leads the team with 373 kills, averaging 3.77 kills per set. Leading the team in the digs category is Alyssa Ortega, who had 409 digs on the season and 4.13 digs per set. Mj Mccurdy has a team-high 24 aces on the fall and Defraeye has a team-high 120 blocks.
Texas State advanced to the semifinal after sweeping No. 3 seeded James Madison in Friday’s morning quarterfinal match. The Bobcats are 20-8 (13-3 SBC) and have won their last nine matches, posting a pair of wins over ULM, Southern Miss, Coastal Carolina, and a trio of wins over JMU. Texas State also posted victories over Louisiana and Troy, in addition to splitting with Arkansas State. The Bobcats have tallied 14 sweeps and three five-set victories this fall.
Looking Ahead
The winner of Saturday’s semifinal match will advance to Sunday’s 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. CT) championship match.
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
(2W) Texas State 3, (3E) James Madison 0
(1E) App State 3, (5E) Georgia State 2
Match 5 – 5:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. CT) – (1W) Arkansas State vs. (4E) Coastal Carolina
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) – (1E) App State vs. (2W) Texas State
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
