Going into this weekend, the Georgia Southern Eagles were undefeated in Hanner all season.To keep this streak alive, they would have to come out on top against evenly matched South Alabama and Georgia State.

South Alabama (3-1 W):

Georgia Southern continued their winning streak at Hanner Fieldhouse with a 3-1 win against South Alabama. The Eagles came up with a 25-20 first-set win to begin the game and set the tone for the night.

Even though it looked like the Eagles would have an easy win, the Jaguars came back and won a competitive second set 29-27. After the 10 minute break, GSU came out on fire and dominated the third set, leading 14-5 at one point. The Eagles won the set 25-17.

The fourth set was a competitive as the second, with the Jaguars taking their first lead of the set at 23-22. After a GSU timeout, the girls regrouped and won the set 25-23 after a service ace by Kym Coley.

The Eagles were led offensively by seniors Jamie DeRatt and Coley with a combined 31 kills. Junior Kat Minnerly continues to assist her teammates in an effective manner with 53 assists.

Georgia State (3-2 L):

The Eagles lost to Georgia State in a home match at Hanner, ending their in-Hanner win streak. This match was the first to make it to all five sets.

The Eagles lost the first set with the largest point gap of the entire match, 25-20. State held a strong beginning at the start of the second, but back to back kills from DeRatt shined some light on the set, though the Panthers came up on top 25-23.

The Eagles stepped up in the third set. A strong hold throughout the game, and an attack error from Eliza Zachary brought the Eagles their first set win of the match, with a score of 23-25.

In the fourth set, three consecutive kills from Cathrine Murray brought the Eagles to their second set win with a score of 24-26. The fifth and final set concluded with a Panther win over the Eagles, 15-11, earning the Panthers a win for the match.

Both DeRatt and Murray tallied 17 kills, and Avery Stephens collected 17 digs. Coley added 13 kills, six digs and three blocks, and Megan Chevalier ended the match with 12 kills, seven digs and three blocks.

The Eagles held a .226 hitting percentage over the Panther’s .220. Natalia Nieto led the Panthers’ total assists with 53, compared to Minnerly’s 49 assists. Zachary led the Panthers with 24.5 points, 20 kills and five total blocks.

The Georgia Southern Eagles won’t play until next week, Nov. 7, when they will then travel to rival Appalachian State for a Sun Belt match. The match will start at 7 p.m.

Araya Jackson and Jozsef Papp-Chang contributed to this story.