Volleyball Southern Conference

Georgia Southern Tops College of Charleston

STATESBORO, Ga.-Martina Veiglova's record setting 28 kills led the Eagles to a 3-0 victory over SoCon rival College of Charleston on Wednesday night. Backed by a record smashing 1,027 screaming fans, Georgia Southern snapped the Cougars 29 match SoCon winning streak. The 1,027 fans in attendance for the "Hanner House of Horrors" set a new Southern Conference attendance record. The previous record, 519, was set by the Citadel at Wofford in 2001. With the win, Georgia Southern (18-9, 12-1) moves into a tie for first place in the south division of the conference with the Cougars (20-5, 11-1). They also extended their home conference winning streak to 17 matches, a record that dates back to the end of the 2002 season.

Reigning SoCon Player-of-the-week Martina Veiglova led the way for the Eagles in game one. Her .727 hitting percentage on eight kills and zero errors proved to be too much for the Cougars, as GSU went on to win game one, 30-23. As a team, the Eagles hit a .514, while the Cougars managed a .222 percentage.

The first point for the Eagles in game two was a record setter, as Erin Martin tallied her 1,000th career kill for the Eagle point. The Cougars took their first lead of the night at 19-18, and the game saw eight ties before the Eagles closed out game two on Veiglova's 16th kill of the night. The final score in game two was 35-33.

The Eagles took a two game advantage into the break, and it proved to be motivation as the Eagles came out in game three with two straight service aces by Susan Winkelman, setting the pace for the remainder of the evening. Once again, Veiglova led the Eagles with twelve kills in the final game, with the last four kills closing out the match, 30-24.

Veiglova finished the evening with 28 kills, 17 digs and three block assists. The 28 kills breaks a GSU school record for most kills in a three-game match. She broke her own previous record of 26, originally recorded against the College of Charleston last season, which she also tied this past Sunday against UNC Greensboro. Erin Martin's ten kills were enough to send her to the GSU record books. She becomes only the fifth Eagle to tally 1,000 plus kills. In addition, she added nine digs. Setters Susan Winkelman and Jessica Lippi combined for 50 assists on the night. Winkelman also added four service aces.

Leading the way for the Cougars were Rebecca Wieters and Alisa Long, who notched a combined 30 kills on the night. Long, in addition to her 14 kills, added six blocks in the loss. Setter Kaycie Carr finished the night with 39 assists, four block assists and eight digs.

"You can't describe it [the fans]. They are like our extra hands out there. I give a lot of credit to the marketing and media relations departments for all their work in promoting the Hanner House of Horrors. I hope that tonight's match will give people a new found respect for the game of volleyball and we hope they return", stated Head Coach Kerry Messersmith.

"Tonight is just another step in us reaching our goals. No one team is more important than any other, but obviously with Charleston being undefeated it made it important, but it was just another match," Messersmith added.


The Eagles travel away from Hanner Fieldhouse on Monday, November 3, when they face SoCon foe Davidson. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m.