The Volleyball team faced a pair of familiar opponents in rivals App State and Georgia State. The team went 1-1 with a win over Georgia State and a loss to App State. They now have one opponent left on the schedule before hosting the Sun Belt Conference Championship on the weekend of Nov. 20.

App State proved to be a formidable foe again as they defeated the Eagles 3-0 on Friday. Southern was unable to find any early momentum in the three sets they played. They did almost rally a comeback in the third set, but could not pull out enough answers to get it started. The Eagles would go on to lose the match 14-25, 18-25, 25-27.

Sophomore Cathrine Murray led the Eagles in kills by having nine on the match. Freshman Stephanie Spencer followed with her eight kills. Redshirt sophomore Megan Chevalier earned seven kills during the match and redshirt junior Katie Bange had six kills and three blocks.

The Eagles took on Georgia State on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta. It was a rematch from Oct. 7 when Southern beat the Panthers 3-0 at Hanner. This match was much closer between the two teams, but the Eagles still found the victory by a score of 3-2.

It ended up being a historic night for the Eagles as redshirt junior Alex Beecher claimed 36 digs on the night, earning a spot as the school’s all-time leader in digs with 1,079.

Murray, again, led the team in kills on the night with 18. Freshman Hannah Braun was on the team leaderboard as she scored 14 kills, making her second on the team. Chevalier had 12 kills while redshirt junior Crysten Curry had 8 kills.

The Sun Belt Championship is now approaching in the few weeks. Sitting at the top of the standings are Arkansas State and App State. Both teams are undefeated in conference play and are on 15 games, or plus, win streaks. They are firmly at the top of the conference and stand in the way of claiming a conference championship.

7th ranked Troy will be the Eagles’ final opponent this coming Friday. There are three games separating these two teams and their standings. Troy has a 7-8 record in conference play while Southern has a 4-11 record. There likely won’t be any changes in the standings between now and the championship. Even so, the Eagles will be looking to build upon their championship-winning strategy with their last regular season competition against the Trojans.

Troy will be played on Friday, Nov. 13 at 5 p.m. in the Hanner Fieldhouse at home. This will be the last regular season match before the Sun Belt Championship begins on Nov. 20.