The Sports Inquirer

Release from Georgia State Athletics:

ATLANTA – Winning four of its past five contests, Georgia State’s volleyball team looks to continue its winning ways this weekend when the Panthers host Arkansas State Friday at 6 p.m. and UL Monroe Saturday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Sports Arena.

Georgia State (8-15, 6-8 Sun Belt Conference) sits in sixth place in the conference standings while Arkansas State (15-8, 10-4 SBC) is in fourth and ULM (7-20, 1-13 SBC) is in 10^th. The Red Wolves defeated the Panthers 3-0 in Jonesboro, Ark. earlier this season and Georgia State swept ULM 3-0 in Monroe, La. The Panthers are a perfect 4-0 all-time versus the Warhawks.

“We love playing in front of our home crowd,” head coach Sally Polhamus said. “It’s to our advantage that we have four more home matches as we battle for a spot in the conference tournament.”

Eliza Zachary ranks fifth in the Sun Belt with her .334 hitting percentage. The junior also leads the team in blocks with 56.

Freshman Sydney Mauer was one of three Panthers to record three aces against rival Georgia Southern on Saturday. Mauer leads the team in aces at 32 and ranks in the top 50 in the country in aces per set.

Polhamus noted on Wednesday that it’s important for her team to keep its focus. “We have two strong opponents coming in this weekend. No matter who is across the net, whether its ourselves in practice or an opponent in a match, our mentality all year has been to get better every day.”

Zachary, Deidra Bohannon, Natalia Nieto, and Gabby Serafin continue to lead the Panthers at their respective position. Bohannon is the team kills leader with 309 while Zachary is first in hitting percentage at .334. Nieto is 17 assists away from fourth place in the GSU record books. Nieto finished the last Saturday’s match with a double-double (53 assists, 15 digs), her sixth in a row and 10th on the year. Serafin leads the team on defense with 299 digs.

Only six matches remain on GSU’s regular-season schedule.