STATESBORO, Ga. – Freshman Neea-Maria Joki tallied a team-high 21.5 points, and senior Azyah Dailey added 19, but it wasn’t enough as Clemson (3-2) fell to Georgia Southern (4-1) in four sets (21-25, 24-26, 25-23, 26-28). The Tigers continued to dominate at the service line by adding seven total aces spread over four athletes.
Joki finished with a season-high in both points and kills (15), while also adding two aces and seven blocks (one solo, six assisted). Dailey added a team-high 18 kills, one shy of her career-high, and junior Mia McGrath rounded out the Tigers offense with 11 kills and two aces. Redshirt freshman Katherine Sandt finished with 41 assists, one short of her season-high, and clocked a double-double with 13 digs. Senior Devan Taylor and freshman Claire Luoma rounded out the Tiger defense with double-digit digs collecting 15 and 12, respectively.
Clemson dropped the opening set, 25-21, after tallying a .258 hitting percentage led by Joki’s .667 with four kills. Sophomore Kate Hansen and Dailey came up defensively in the first with one solo block each, while McGrath notched the lone ace for the Tigers.
The Tigers looked to respond in the second by slowly chipping away at the Eagles behind early points by Indigo Young. The graduate transfer notched a block assist and two kills within the first eight points of the set. Devan Taylor added the second ace of the match for Clemson and McGrath tied things at 16-all down the stretch to continue the back-and-forth that saw the score tied six additional times before Georgia Southern took the set, 26-24.
Behind five aces, Dailey made the push for Clemson in the third set with four kills within the first six Tiger points scored. Joki also continued to keep the Tigers in the set with multiple kills and back-to-back aces that pulled Clemson within one at the halfway mark. Aces from Claire Luoma and Taylor matched with kills from Joki and Kennedy Wagner gave Clemson the push needed to seal the third set, 25-23.
Dailey, Wagner and Joki continued to pace the Tigers offensively in the fourth, while Young added a solo block and block assist to stop early attacks from the Eagles. In another back-and-forth set, Joki was able to tally her 20th point of the match, a season-high for the freshman, with back-to-back kills. Dailey helped keep momentum in Clemson’s favor down the stretch by picking up crucial kills to push the Tigers to set point, but the Eagles matched the Tigers point-for-point before…