Stars propel volleyball to shutout victory

In a convincing victory, the Georgia State volleyball team(7-11) shut out UNC Wilmington Saturday 25-17, 25-20, 25-20 in their first Co- lonial Athletic Association battle of the season. The match also featured two of the CAA's top three serving teams in the Panthers and Seahawks. Despite playing its six starters for the entire match, the Panthers did not lose a single a single set. Opening up with a 17-10 lead in the first set, the Panthers managed a balanced attack throughout. When UNCW threatened to win the set, Georgia State went on a 6-0 run to win the set 25-20. How- ever, Noe killed the ball to secure the set win and finished the night with three kills total and a career- high five block assists. To finish the sweep, Georgia State came out in the third set 12-7. Noe also finished with a career-high five block assists in the win, while Andrea Ezell posted a team-high six. Senior Vinceece Verdun helped secure the win with two kills and three blocks. UNCW threat- ened late 24-20, but Jamie Freeman ended their hopes with a spike to give the Panthers the win, 25-20. Both teams came into the game ranking high in aces per game, with Georgia State ranking second in the CAA and UNCW ranking third. However, there were only two total aces in the game, both from the Panthers. Emily Averbeck led the team with 15 digs in the match. Senior Muki Kangwa, the Panthers top scorer ranks first among CAA players with an average of 4.39 points per set. Kangwa is ranked just ahead of fellow senior Vineece Verdun, the CAA Preseason Player of the Year.

The Panthers finished the match with 22 block assists and 13 total team blocks, their second-highest totals of the season. . The Panthers will continue CAA play this weekend as they host Virginia Commonwealth this Friday at 7 p.m. and William & Mary Sun- day at 1 p.m. The VCU Rams lost to James Madison (11-4, 2-0) this past Saturday and fell to 0-2 in the conference. "We'll get to enjoy this one to- day and then it all resets," Audia told Georgia State Athletics. "With VCU and William & Mary coming in we'll need to defend our home court and get back to work. " The win, marked the Panthers first two game winning streak of the season including the team's road victory over Kennesaw State in front of a record crowd on Sept. 20 and im- proved the Panthers to a 2-3 record at the GSU Sports Arena.