HARRISONBURG, Va. (JMU Athletics) – Friday night’s home conference contest resulted in James Madison volleyball falling 3-0 to App State.
Despite falling in three sets, 25-22, 25-23, and 25-16, JMU (10-8, 5-3 SBC) battled it out with the top-ranked App State Mountaineers (14-8, 7-1 SBC) in front of a packed Convocation Center. The opening two sets featured 20 total ties and seven lead changes, while an early advantage built by the visitors in the final set was just too much to overcome for JMU.
App State ended the night out-hitting James Madison .333 to .193 as a team. At the net, JMU out-blocked the Mountaineers for the second night in a row, ending today with eight to the visitors’ six.
Outside hitter Kennedy Louisell led the Dukes with 16 points fueled by 14 kills and a pair of blocks.
The Dukes continue conference play next week, hitting the road to face off against Georgia Southern on Friday and Saturday (Oct. 23-24).
How We Got Here
Set One – JMU 22, App State 25
-Tonight’s opening set continued to stay as competitive as yesterday’s match.
-Before either team reached double digits, the match had been tied seven times.
-JMU raced ahead to the 15 mark, up 15-12, before App State began taking control.
– The set finished with App State riding a 13-7 run to take the victory over the Dukes.
Set Two – JMU 23, App State 25
-Set two saw JMU jump out to an early 9-3 lead.
-Down by six points, a 12-4 App State scoring swing put the visitors ahead 15-13 at the media break.
-Coming out of the timeout, the Dukes responded with a 3-1 run to knot the set at 16-16.
-The set stayed neck-and-neck for the remainder of play, but App State would take the win thanks to a late 3-0 run.
Set Three – JMU 16, App State 25
-Tonight’s final set kicked off with the Mountaineers climbing to a six point advantage before JMU tallied a score.
-Taking it one volley at a time, JMU clawed their way back to an 11-10 deficit.
-App State responded with a counterattack that left JMU behind.
-The Dukes fell 25-16.
MATCH NOTES
-Defensive specialist Shelby Davis led the Dukes with a career-high 10 digs.
-Not only did middle blocker Peri Linterman record her first blocks of the season, she also led the team today with a career-high five blocks. Between her five blocks and her season-high four kills, Linterman ended the night recording a season-best 6.5 points.
-Louisell’s double-digit performance was the 49th of her career.
— JMU Athletics —
