By Taylor Blackmon, Contributor
Kennesaw State volleyball remains undefeated after sweeping the Georgia Challenge in Athens this weekend with a 3-2 win over Georgia Southern and a 3-0 win over Mercer.
“Georgia southern is really good,” KSU head coach Keith Schunzel said. “We knew they had some tough attackers. They run a nice system. They’re a tough team. It was a super back and forth match.
“Some of that was credited to Georgia Southern, but we kept fighting back and battling and made a couple plays late in set five and came out with the win. It always feels really good when you come out with a win in matches like that, where you’ve worked hard and really had to battle for it. It was a great win for our program.”
The Owls dropped the first and third sets to the Eagles and rallied from falling behind two sets to one to win the match in a decisive fifth set 15-13. Anaiah Boyer led KSU with 18 kills.
KSU dismissed the Mercer Bears in three straight sets Friday, 25-14, 25-16, 25-16, to complete to weekend 2-0. Freshman Sydni Shelton continued her hot start to the season with a match-leading 12 kills. KSU is 3-0 against teams in Georgia, taking down Savannah State earlier in the season at the Kennesaw State Invitational.
With this being the best start in school history for the Owls, Schunzel stated the importance for his team to stay humble.
“It’s still early in the year,” Schunzel said. “You don’t get too caught up in [being undefeated] but certainly it feels good. Our guys put on a really really good spring and summer to get themselves ready for the position we’re in right now, and fortunately, we’ve been able to play some good volleyball early.
“But we have a long way to go. It’s a long season; it’s a grind. You get excited and let yourself feel good about it, but at the same time, you have to keep at it and keep getting better in training.”
KSU’s next game is Tuesday Sept. 8 at Georgia State University.