RICHMOND, Va. — Jacqui Spurgeon and Lindsey Sauls each tallied career-high kill totals to lead Appalachian State’s volleyball team to a 3-2 victory over Georgetown in the opening match of the VCU/Third Degree Sportswear Invitational on Friday at the Stiegel Center.

The Mountaineers (2-6) staved off defeat in a gritty fourth-set performance to send the Hoyas (5-1) to their first defeat of the season by scores of 21-25, 25-17, 20-25, 29-17 and 15-12.

Spurgeon led the Mountaineers with a career-high 22 kills while Sauls finished with a career-best 15 kills and five digs.

Georgetown was able to snag a first-set victory in a back-and-forth battle that featured seven ties and two lead changes, but Appalachian State would not back down, bouncing back in the second set to knot the match at 1-1.

The Mountaineers raced out to an 8-4 lead in the second set thanks to a balanced performance before the Hoyas were able to draw within one point (11-10) thanks to a 5-0 run. Appalachian would respond with a 7-0 run of its own to take an 18-10 lead en route to a set victory.

After snagging a second-straight 8-4 lead to start the third set, the Mountaineers would fall prey to another Georgetown run as the Hoyas reeled off 10-1 run to jump out to a 14-9 lead.

The Mountaineers would tie the set twice in the late stages, but Georgetown hung on for a third-set victory to take a 2-1 advantage and pin the Mountaineers to the wall.

With the possibility of elimination looming, Appalachian State was able to hold off the Hoyas and grind out a 29-27 third-set victory. The Mountaineers led for a majority of the set before Georgetown stormed back to take the lead late.

The Hoyas were able to push Appalachian State to the brink three times in the late stages but squandered three-straight match-point opportunities as the Mountaineers finished the match on a 3-0 run to finish off the third-set win.

The Mountaineers dominated the fifth and final set of the match as they never trailed en route to a 15-12 victory and a 3-2 match win.

Lauren Gray and Dalton Tolliver each tallied nine kills while Paige Brown recorded a career-high 41 assists while matching her season-best with 19 digs.

Courtney Rhein finished with 21 digs in the match while true freshman Meghan Mahoney tallied 15 digs. Jessica Eley set a career-high with nine block assists while Tolliver added eight of her own.

The Hoyas were paced by Alex Johnson’s match-high 25 kills. Johnson also led all players with 25 digs while Haley Lowrance tallied a match-high 62 assist.

The Mountaineers hit .159 on the attack while Georgetown recorded a .162 attack percentage. Appalachian State finished with 15 kills to the Hoyas’ 14 and committed 29 attack errors to Georgetown’s 35.