Sunday, October 27, 2002

Johnson City, Tenn. (October, 27 2002) - East Tennessee State head coach Deane Webb knew his Buccaneers would have a challenge on their hands when Southern Conference leading Georgia Southern strolled into town. ETSU arose to the challenge in game one with a 32-30 come-from-behind win, but the Eagles won the next three games to pull out the 3-1 victory over the Bucs Sunday in Brooks Gym. The Eagles, who improve their season record to 19-7 overall (13-1 SoCon), won the last three games 30-17, 30-24, and 30-18. ETSU, which falls to 5-17 overall and 3-10 in league play, hit just .127 as a team in the four-game match. "I thought we came out and worked hard," Webb said. "We were passing well and hitting well, but towards the end of the last three games we didn't continue to do that. Against a team like Georgia Southern, we need to pass the ball better to put us in a position to win." Leading the way for the Bucs was freshman Nicole Ryan (Etiwanda, Calif.), who tallied 19 kills on 55 attacks. Megan Connolly (Solon, Ohio) registered 10 kills and a team high 15 digs, just ahead of Kristi Robinson (Knoxville, Tenn.), who had 14 digs. Junior middle blocker Lissa Allen (Palm Bay, Fla.) continued her pace as one of the league leaders in blocks, leading ETSU with five block assists. Martina Veiglova (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Lauren McClain (Scottsdale, Ariz.) led the way for GSU with 20 and 17 kills, respectively. McClain also had six blocks, while Veiglova and Kim Foytich (Aurora, Colo.) had three service aces each. Susan Winkelman (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) had 17 assists and a match-high 17 digs. The Buccaneers hope to reverse their current losing streak when they face Appalachian State at home on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in Brooks Gym.