Championship bid on the line for Georgia State volleyball

A spot in next week’s Sun Belt Conference Championship is within reach for Georgia State’s volleyball team with a match against Troy on Friday, Nov. 21 followed by a meeting with Appalachian State on Senior Day, Saturday, Nov. 22. Both matches are at the GSU Sports Arena and are slated for a 6 p.m. start. By Saturday night, GSU could be as high as the fifth seed, hang on as the seventh, or be eliminated.

Georgia State currently sits in seventh place in the conference standings with the top eight teams earning spots in the SBC tournament. The Panthers control their own destiny and can lock up at least the seventh seed with a 2-0 weekend. At the very best, Georgia State could move all the way up to the fifth seed. With a win on Friday and a Georgia Southern loss, the Panthers would clinch a spot then. That would mean Saturday’s outcome would just decide the seed.

Georgia State (9-18, 7-11 SBC) swept Troy (9-21, 1-17 SBC) in three sets in the first meeting on Oct. 24. Juniors Eliza Zachary and Deidra Bohannon played well in the first meeting, each finishing with double-digit kills. Zachary has a team-high five blocks and Bohannon added three. The Panthers last saw Appalachian State (19-9, 9-9 SBC) on Sept. 12 in an early tournament. The Mountaineers pulled off a win in Boone, N.C., beating the Panthers in three.

“They’re excited to play at home with a berth on the line. We close with App State who beat us in three at the beginning of the season. We’re a much different team than when we first faced them. We were able to beat Troy, but they played us closely,” Georgia State coach Sally Polhamus said. “Both of these schools are great competitors and we’re ready to rise to the occasion.”

The Panthers had a tough road trip against two of the top teams in the conference last week, resulting in losses to Texas State and UT Arlington. Polhamus said the team learned a lot from those matches and is ready to go this weekend with a tournament berth on the line.

NOTING THE PANTHERS…

• In Sally Polhamus’ first season as head coach, Georgia State could double its conference-win total from a season ago with a win on Friday or Saturday.
• If the Panthers were to make the Sun Belt tournament, it would be the first appearance in a conference tournament since the 2011-12 season when the Panthers were ousted in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association by James Madison.