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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State volleyball team protected the nest in spectacular fashion during Tuesday night's home-opener as five Owls recorded double-digit kills to down Georgia Tech 3-1, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-15, in front of 1,026 fans at the Convocation Center.
 
How it happened: The Yellow Jackets (3-1) took control early, jumping out to a 4-1 lead to open the match, holding the Owls (2-2) at bay until a 5-2 swing for KSU, capped off by a kill from Lauren Chastang knotted the set at 11-11. The two squads proceeded to go point-for-point until Georgia Tech ripped off a 5-0 run to lead 21-17. KSU looked to even the match behind kills from Emma Schurfranz and Quin Sutphin, followed by a block by Sutphin and Chastang, to pull within one, 22-21. GT was able to hold on though, winning three of the next five points to escape with a 25-23 first set victory.
 
The second set started off with a similar back-and-forth battle before the Owls gained the edge, 14-11, with a 4-0 run. The Owls pushed the tempo, and their lead, with a 7-1 run to take a commanding 22-15 lead. KSU eventually evened the match at one set a piece thanks to two serving errors from the Yellow Jackets.
 
The Owls took the early advantage to open the third set, leading 9-4 following a 6-1 run which featured back-to-back kills from Schurfranz along with kills from Sutphin and Lexi Broadwater. KSU managed to maintain its lead as the two teams traded points before a kill and solo block from Jasmine Brown put the Owls on the doorstep, 20-16. Brown would spark the final 3-0 run for the Owls as she, Schurfranz and Chastang capped off the set with three straight kills to win it 25-20.
 
The Owls dominated the fourth set right form the get-go, racing out to an 11-1 lead. After trading the first two points, KSU rattled off the next 10 straight points, featuring two kills each from Chastang and Brown, one from Dani Ballou and Schurfranz and an ace from Shelby Dennis. The Owls then set it to cruise control as they maintained a double-digit lead throughout the rest of the set before Sutphin put the final nail in the coffin to win the set 25-15 and give the Owls a 3-1 victory.
 
Notes: Five Owls finished the match in double-figures, led by Lauren Chastang with 16 … Chastang recorded her third straight double-double with 16 kills and 10 digs … Emma Schurfranz upped her game with a career-high 14 kills … Schurfranz finished the match hitting .583 with zero errors … Jasmine Brown also set a career-mark with 11 kills, her first career match in double-figures, while hitting .500 for the match … Quin Sutphin logged her second straight game with 13 kills … Dani Ballou recorded her third straight match in double-figures with 12 kills … Lexi Broadwater was one assist shy of breaking her career-record with 57 total assists … freshman Shelby Dennis led the way for the Owls with 19 digs … Karlee Groover logged a season-high 16 digs … as a team, the Owls hit .371 in the match … KSU out-killed Georgia Tech 71-45.
 
Quotes: Head Coach Keith Schunzel
 
On the slow start for KSU…
"I think it was just a little nerves, first game at home, big crowd. We came off playing very well last weekend. We went 1-2, but we were up 2-0 on Georgia and didn't finish it, played Clemson very well and they have a good team this year, so I think there was some expectations coming in along with some nerves. I knew once we settled down, we were going to be in good shape if we played well."
 
On Lauren Chastang's play…
"Lauren [Chastang] is one of, if not the most, gifted attacker we've had here. She's just got a rocket of an arm and what she's learned to do is how to move the ball around, some different pace, sometimes she's taking a little off, sometimes she's cutting the ball or chopping the line. She's doing more things as an attacker which make her really hard to stop because she already brings a huge heavy ball."
 
On KSU's clean play…
"Once we settled in, I knew if our pass came a little bit, that we had plenty of weapons to terminate and Schurfranz had a great night on the right, she's just been playing so well. Our pass really settled in, we got the middles going and we have a really good setter, Broadwater is just really really good. We're tough. When we handle it, when we pass it, we're physical and we hit it hard. We're playing really good volleyball."
 
Up next: The Owls will look to carry this momentum into the High Point Invitational this weekend. KSU kicks off tournament play against James Madison Friday at 4 p.m., followed by Furman Saturday and hosts HPU on Sunday.