STATESBORO, Ga. – Old Dominion volleyball dropped its Sun Belt series opener at Georgia Southern, 3-0 on Friday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
"We had a better performance tonight. We battled well in serve and pass and extended points with some tough defense. Our focus turns to building on these positives and finding more offensive points while cutting out some errors," said ODU head coach Fred Chao.
GS 3, ODU 0
The Monarchs (4-10, 0-3 Sun Belt) fell behind, 5-1 at the start of the first set, but three kills by Weronika Urbanska highlighted a 5-0 run as ODU grabbed its first lead of the night, 6-5. An Elisa Maggi successful attack and a block by Emma Schelah and Wiktoria Zagumny put the Silver and Blue in front, 9-8. Later, Emma DiRocco terminated a ball from Zagumny before a GS attack error put the Monarchs up, 15-13 at the media timeout. However, the hosts outpaced ODU, 5-1 to regain control at 21-17. The Eagles (11-4, 3-0) held on for a 25-21 decision to take the first set point.
ODU dug itself an early 4-0 deficit at the start of the second set, and later fell behind 11-5 as the Monarchs were forced to burn a timeout. Down 15-7 at the midway point, a couple of Urbanksa kills and two attack errors by GS’ Reagan Barth cut the deficit to 15-11. Following another timeout by ODU with the Monarchs trailing 18-11, Kyra Hampton assisted Urbanska to open up a 7-1 run as the Silver and Blue were back within a point, 19-18. They wouldn’t get any closer though as the Eagles used a late 4-0 push to take another set point, 25-19.
In the third set, an Erica Duffy service ace put Old Dominion in front, 5-1. After an attack error by GS’ Sam Bowron, Maggi had swung for a couple of kills to make it a 9-4 ODU lead. However, the home team countered with a 7-1 swing to take their first lead of the set at 11-10. Adrienne Peji connected with Urbanska to knot the score at 18-18, but a Beka Pfefferkorn ace capped off a 4-0 response by the Eagles. The sides then traded points as the hosts brought the match to an end with a 25-21 decision.
Urbanska led the Monarchs with a new season best of 11 kills, followed by Maggi with eight kills. Hampton and Zagumny finished with 14 and eight assists, respectively, while Duffy had ODU’s only ace in the contest. Peji paced the team’s back row with 17 digs, a new career high for the fourth year defensive specialist and libero from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Six different Monarchs recorded a block, led by Schelah with four.
ODU was outhit by GS, .223 to .149. The Monarchs had their best hitting percent in the third set, combining for a .219 clip. The match had 18 ties, including 10 in the opening set and eight in the third, and nine lead changes. It was also the first time in the series that the Monarchs and Eagles have faced each other in Statesboro. Previous Sun Belt series at Georgia Southern were canceled in 2022 due to Hurricane Ian and in 2024 due to Hurricane Helene.
Up Next
The Monarchs and Eagles will be back tomorrow for the second match of the series. First serve at Hanner Fieldhouse is scheduled for 1 p.m.