By Katherine Jamtgaard. ATLANTA — The App State volleyball team defeated Georgia State, 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-15, 25-21) in Atlanta on Friday.
The Mountaineers, who have won four of their last five matches, are 13-7 on the season and 7-2 in Sun Belt play. Friday’s victory also moves App State to the top of the league’s East Division.
The Mountaineers return to the court at 2 p.m. on Saturday (Nov. 2) for their second match against Georgia State.
App State 3, Georgia State 1
Four Mountaineers made double figure kills, led by junior Maya Winterhoff, who tallied 18 kills for a hitting percentage of .571. Winterhoff was one kill away from matching her career high (19), which was set on Sept. 15, 2023 against Wake Forest. Winterhoff and sophomore Caroline Farthing combined for four of the Black and Gold’s six aces, each serving up two. Sophomore Ava Leahy made 13 kills for a hitting percentage of .458. She also went up for a team high four blocks. Freshman Bella Hutchens matched her career high 12 kills, which she originally set against Georgia Southern on Oct. 19. Seven of Hutchens’ 12 kills against the Panthers were made in the third set. Senior Lulu Ambrose made 11 kills on the night.
Redshirt junior Addison Heidemann made 47 of the Mountaineers’ 57 assists in addition to 12 digs for her seventh career double-double. Junior Kenady Roper led the team with 15 digs and was followed by freshman Elise Marchal, who made 14 digs.
App State outpaced Georgia State in kills (60-48), aces (6-3), assists (57-45), and digs (64-55). The Mountaineers also edged past the Panthers with seven blocks to six. App State recorded a team hitting percentage of .312 on the evening. The Mountaineers and Panthers knotted the score five times over the course of the match and only traded the lead twice during the match (once in the second set and once in the fourth set).
App State commanded the first set, jumping ahead 2-0 after back-to-back kills from Marchal. The Mountaineers pulled ahead, 7-3, after kills from Heidemann, Leahy, and Hutchens. Steadily extending the deficit to 14-7, the Black and Gold built off a trio of Winterhoff kills and back-to-back kills from Leahy and Ambrose. As Georgia State chipped away at the Mountaineers’ lead, kills from Winterhoff, Ambrose, and Marchal, in addition to a Winterhoff ace, pushed App State ahead, 22-16. The Mountaineers sealed the set, 25-17, after a 3-0 run that featured kills from Ambrose and Leahy. App State recorded a team hitting percentage of .571 in the first set.
The Mountaineers jumped to an early lead in the second set, building off an early 3-0 run that included a kill from Winterhoff and a Farthing ace. App State extended the lead to 9-4 and held to a tight lead over the course of the set, but Georgia State steadily chipped away at the deficit, meeting App State at 18 all. A GSU error and block from the duo of Ambrose and Leahy moved the Mountaineers ahead, 20-18. Georgia State managed to take the set, 25-21 after a late 7-1 surge.
In the third set, App State once again took command, only allowing Georgia State to knot the score once at 1-1. Building off kills from Ambrose and Leahy, as well as a Marchal ace, App State pulled ahead, 4-2. Hutchens slammed down back-to-back kills to extend App State’s lead to 6-3. A 5-0 scoring run that featured kills from Hutchens and Winterhoff, as well as a block from the duo of Winterhoff and Marchal, put the Mountaineers up, 11-4. The Black and Gold jumped ahead, 16-9, as Hutchens and Winterhoff made kills and Winterhoff served up an ace. With a pair of 3-0 runs, App State took a 23-13 lead. A kill from Hutchens brought the Mountaineers to set point, 24-14. The Black and Gold took the set, 25-15, after a Marchal kill.
Despite leading two sets to one, App State trailed Georgia State throughout the fourth set. The Mountaineers worked to chip away at the Panthers’ lead despite the deficit. Down 14-7, the Black and Gold narrowed the deficit to three (16-13), with a Farthing ace, and kills from Winterhoff, Leahy, and Ambrose. GSU jumped ahead, 20-15, but the Mountaineers answered with a 7-0 run to take the lead, 22-20, for the first time in the set. The 7-0 run featured an ace from Heidemann as well as a kill and solo block from Hutchens. Georgia State mustered one final kill before Winterhoff brought App State to set point (24-21) with back-to-back kills. A kill from Ambrose clinched the set, 25-21, and the match, 3-1, for the Mountaineers.
