ATLANTA – Old Dominion volleyball looked to force a fifth set with the fourth tied at 25-25, but Georgia State held on for a 3-1 final on Saturday afternoon at the GSU Sports Arena.
“We came up short today, but I am proud of our fight. We let some chances get away down the stretch, but we never gave up,” said ODU head coach Fred Chao.
The Monarchs fall to 4-15 overall and 0-8 in Sun Belt play with the loss.
GSU 3, ODU 1
A block by Emma DiRocco and Rita Benidio along with a couple of errors by the Panthers (9-11, 3-5 Sun Belt) allowed ODU to take an early 4-2 lead in the first set. GSU took off with a 9-1 swing to go up 15-8 at the first media timeout. Coming out of the break, Leilani Lawrence scored a kill and served an ace to help close the gap, 15-11, but the home team held on to take the first set point, 25-18.
In the second set, ODU was behind 8-6 when Kyra Hampton recorded a solo block and GSU committed back-to-back attack errors. Benidio added two more kills and DiRocco chipped in a solo block to push the advantage to 12-9. After the Panthers cut the Monarch lead to one, 12-11 to force an ODU timeout, the Silver and Blue put together a 5-0 run in response to pull away again. Down the stretch, the hosts secured three straight points to get to within 23-20. Benidio terminated a ball from Hampton and then teamed up with DiRocco for a block that clinched the set for the Monarchs, 25-20.
The Monarchs jumped out to a 6-0 start in the third set and a pair of Katie Rakoski kills forced the Panthers to burn a timeout with them trailing, 9-4. The hosts caught up at 11-11 with five unanswered points. The rest of the set remained close until GSU used a 3-0 push to seize control, 23-19. A Taylor Motes solo block trimmed the Panthers’ lead to 24-22, but an ODU attack error allowed GSU to grab another set point and a 2-1 match lead.
In the fourth set, ODU was down 15-13 at the midway point when Hampton assisted Motes out of the break. The Panthers took off with a 4-0 run for a 19-14 lead, but a GSU attack error along, a bad set, and a block by Hampton and DiRocco evened things up at 20-20. Benidio served an ace to put the Monarchs ahead, 24-23, but the next two rallies went to the Panthers. DiRocco had a good swing for another tie at 25-25, but GSU closed out the match with a kill by Akira Burt and a solo block by Jayden Eaker.
Benidio led ODU with a new season high of 15 kills and added 11 digs for her second double-double of the season. Motes and Lawrence followed with eight kills each, Hampton finished with 37 assists, and five different Monarchs served an ace. On defense, Ashlyn Gent led the way with 14 digs and Lawrence also reached double digits with 10 digs. At the net, DiRocco made eight blocks, Benidio tied her career best with four, and Hampton contributed three.
ODU combined to hit .128 in the match. GSU held the advantage in kills (51-46), assists (49-43), and aces (10-5). Both teams totaled 50 digs and 11 blocks. There were 27 ties, 11 of them in the fourth set, and 14 lead changes.
Up Next
ODU will be back on its home court next weekend to host a Sun Belt series versus Marshall. The Monarchs and Thundering Herd will play at 6 p.m. on Friday and at 2 p.m. next Saturday. The series will also mark ODU’s Dig Pink and Alumni Weekend.