ATLANTA (JMU Athletics) – Senior Annie Smith had a career-high 17 kills, but James Madison fell to Georgia State in five sets (25-20, 26-28, 25-22, 16-25, 11-15) in Sun Belt Conference volleyball action on Friday evening inside the GSU Sports Arena.

JMU (5-8, 0-3 Sun Belt) picked up 10 service aces, but Georgia State (10-5, 1-2) finished with more kills (71-56) and hit .281 on the match.

Brenya Reid finished with 14 kills while freshman Ayen Nhial recorded a career-high eight terminations. Freshman setter Jordan Smart tallied a career-best 28 assists and libero Jaydyn Clemmer picked up 23 digs.

Keionna Mackey paced Georgia State, finishing with 21 kills. Alessia Cappai hit at a .394 clip (16-3-33) while Shanelle Martinez recorded a double-double with 35 assists and 11 digs.

How It Happened
First Set: James Madison 25-20
• The Dukes hit .323 in the first while picking up four service aces and three blocks.
• JMU edged ahead 10-9 on a Georgia State attacking error with the Panthers calling a timeout.
• Tied 13-13, JMU used a 5-0 run to take command of the set.
• GSU cut the deficit to three (21-18), but the Dukes scored four of the last five points of the set to go ahead 1-0.

Second Set: Georgia State 28-26
• Georgia State hit .342 in the second set, while JMU hit .263.
• JMU jumped ahead 5-1 on a service ace from Julia McNeley.
• Down 13-10, GSU evened the score at 16-16 on a termination from Cappai.
• Georgia State pulled ahead with three consecutive points, forcing a Dukes’ timeout with the score 19-17.
• JMU fought back to tie the score at 24-24 on a kill from Smith.
• The Dukes grabbed a 26-25 lead but the Panthers scored three straight to even the match at 1-1.

Third Set: James Madison 25-22
• Nine ties and three lead changes headlined a tightly-contested third set.
• JMU forced the first timeout of the set as a kill from Reid made the score 11-9.
• The teams traded points to a 15-15 tie before the Dukes used a 4-1 run to go ahead 19-16.
• Ahead 21-17, JMU surrendered three straight to Georgia State before responding with a 3-0 run to reach set point (24-20).
• Sarah Schnell and Nhial combined for a block to deny the Panthers and give the Dukes the set.

Fourth Set: Georgia State 25-16
• Georgia State grabbed an 8-6 lead, which prompted a James Madison timeout.
• The Panthers pushed their lead to 15-9 on a kill from Kayla Broom, the largest lead by either team.
• GSU kept JMU at bay and forced a fifth set with a convincing set four win.

Fifth Set: Georgia State 15-11
• Georgia State jumped ahead 6-3, but JMU battled back to tie the set at 7-7.
• A trio of Panther attacking errors gave the Dukes life in the fifth, as the visitors cut the GSU lead to 12-11.
• The Panthers finished off JMU with a pair of kills from Gash and a solo block from Cappai.

Match Notes
• With its win, Georgia State snapped an eight-match losing streak to James Madison. The Panthers still trail 15-6 in the all-time series.
• JMU’s 10 service aces is the third time in 2024 the Dukes have finished 10 or more. McNeley and Clemmer recorded three each.
• The Dukes are now 2-3 in five-set matches this season.
• Clemmer’s career total of 1,218 digs is now the fifth-most in program history, passing Molly Ball (1988-91).

Up Next
JMU will face off against Georgia State tomorrow at 2 p.m.

— JMU Athletics —