{"id":11022,"date":"2024-01-17T09:20:56","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T14:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=11022"},"modified":"2024-01-18T13:46:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T18:46:50","slug":"historic-spike-for-volleyball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2024\/01\/17\/historic-spike-for-volleyball\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Spike for Volleyball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Georgia Southern outside hitter Chamblee Russell (9) during the Great Eight round match of the NIVC between Georgia Southern and South Florida at Hanner Fieldhouse on Dec. 7, 2023 in Statesboro. Photo by AJ Henderson \/ Georgia Southern Athletics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

HISTORIC SPIKE FOR VOLLEYBALL<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Eagles Close Out an Unprecedented Season<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To call the Eagles\u2019 volleyball season historic is an understatement. It was a season of unprecedented firsts and a foundation for seasons to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their remarkable run ended on Thursday, Dec. 7, during Round 3 of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) against the University of South Florida, hosted in Hanner Fieldhouse for the first time and attended by more than 1,000 Eagles fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match saw Georgia Southern briefly leading 21-19, only for South Florida to make a comeback. The Bulls continued their dominance in the second set with a 9-0 run and an impressive .514 hitting percentage, winning 25-12. The third set was a nail-biter, with the Eagles tying at 24 before the Bulls clinched the next two points, resulting in a sweep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the loss was disappointing, Head Coach Chad Willis beamed with pride at his team\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of this team. It was an unbelievable year,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sad because we don\u2019t get to wake up tomorrow and come back and do it again. I think that\u2019s just a testament to this group and who they are and how they come in every single day. They do what we ask and then some. I\u2019m really proud of them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the Eagles\u2019 first-ever appearance in the NIVC, and the first post-season win in program history. Their historic run to the Great Eight round began with victories over Winthrop and East Carolina in Greenville, North Carolina. They finished the season with a record of 23-9 overall and 10-6 in the Sun Belt \u2014 their first 20-win season since 2013, just before they entered the conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Willis and his staff are now looking forward to building on this year\u2019s momentum in the upcoming spring season and beyond. And with their young standouts, they\u2019ll have a firm foundation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key players on the Eagles leaderboard will return next year. Freshman and First-Team All-Sun-Belt outside hitter Reagan Barth, sophomore setter Kirsten Barrett, sophomore middle blocker Ailie Hair, junior right side Jordan Christy, junior defensive specialist Ashlynn Lovett, who broke the program record for digs in a single game against Winthrop, and junior outside hitter Jillian Gray will play key roles for Georgia Southern next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eagles will lose middle blocker and 5th-year senior Ally Barnhart, setter Callaway Cason, defensive specialists Ainsley Clifford and Rebekah Farthing, and outside hitter Chamblee Russell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI\u2019m so proud of this team. It was
an unbelievable year.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>-Eagles Volleyball Head Coach Chad Willis<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HISTORIC SPIKE FOR VOLLEYBALL Eagles Close Out an Unprecedented Season To call the Eagles\u2019 volleyball season historic is an understatement. It was a season of unprecedented firsts and a foundation for seasons to come. Their remarkable run ended on Thursday, Dec. 7, during Round 3 of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) against the University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":11238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"wp-custom-template-post-with-feature-top-section","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[86],"class_list":["post-11022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-fall-2023"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}