CHICAGO – Chicago State volleyball concluded a busy week this afternoon with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-10) loss to visiting Georgia State at the Jacoby Dickens Center. The Panthers improve their season mark to 8-3, while the Cougars fell to 0-10 on the year.
The match was CSU's fifth over the last six days that included competing at the Best Western ISU Classic earlier this weekend.
GSU began the match with an early 5-2 advantage following a pair of attack errors from the home team before CSU scored four of the next points to close within a single point at 6-5 after Panther hitting error. A 9-2 scoring drive by the Panthers, which included four kills from redshirt sophomore Vineece Verdun, later helped them increase their lead to 14-7. The Cougars came back to slice their deficit to 15-11 that included a solo block from senior Niena Posey (Chicago, IL/Lincoln College) (Chicago Heights, Ill.) and a pair of service points from redshirt senior Shamara Clark (Bloomington, IN/South) (Bloomington, Ind.). The visitors then tallied 10 of the final 13 points, including two kills each from sophomore Muki Kangwa and junior Ashley Jones, to gain a one-set lead for the match.
Five consecutive service points, including three service aces, from sophomore Chelsea Perry propelled GSU to a 5-0 lead early in the second set. CSU responded by scoring four of the next six points to close its deficit to 7-4 after a service ace from freshman Kimberly Naut (Reno, NV/Galena) (Reno, Nev.), but a 7-1 scoring drive behind the service of Jones gave the visitors its biggest lead of the set at 15-5. A quick 7-2 run by the Cougars helped them close within 17-12, but the Panthers scored eight of the set's final 10 points with six service points from freshman Jamiee Freeman to head into the break with a two-set advantage.
In the third set, GSU recorded a 10-4 lead after a CSU hitting error and used a 14-5 scoring run to take its biggest lead at 23-9 following three service points from Freeman en route to closing out the match.
Junior Brittany Hale (South Holland, IL/Grand View (Iowa)) (South Holland, Ill.) led Chicago State with four kills, while junior Hanya Minta (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) (Eden Prairie, Minn.) added nine digs and three block assists. Posey also added three blocks, Clark posted seven digs and senior Jean Keenan (/) (Braidwood, Ill.) posted four assists.
Jones and Verdun each recorded a match-best eight kills to lead Georgia State offensively, while Jones added 11 digs and seven assists. Perry added match highs of 22 assists and five assists, and redshirt junior Ashley Cantrell posted a match-high 16 digs for the Panthers.
CSU returns to action on Friday, Sept. 18 as it travels to Orem, Utah for the first-ever Great West Conference match in program history against preseason favorite Utah Valley at the Shurian Family Events Center with a start time of 8 p.m., central.
~CSU~
