The Cougars improved to 18-9 and 9-2 in conference play, while Georgia Southern fell to 14-13 and 6-5 in the SoCon.

Four players reached double figures in kills for the Cougars as senior Elyse Chubb and freshman Sloane White led the team with 14 kills apiece. Senior Sarah Havel landed 12 kills, while freshman Lizzie Theesfeld registered her sixth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs. Redshirt-junior Emily Shelton led the team with 20 digs while Andi Zbojniewicz (14), Hayley Harrell (12), Taeler Davis (10) and Sloane White (10) all reached double figures in digs.

"It's great to get a hard-fought road win," head coach Jason Kepner said. "Georgia Southern is a great team who beat us last year in the Southern Conference championship. We competed really hard and battled all night to put ourselves in a position to win. We were a little up and down in the second and fourth games, but we battled through that adversity to pull it out in five sets."

The Eagles leaned on Bethany Sanford as she made a match-high 18 kills, while Enjoli Johnson had 15 kills and a team-best .462 attacking percentage.

Although the Cougars only hit .244, they took advantage of 18 Georgia Southern service errors, including two to start the crucial fifth set.

College of Charleston led throughout the first set thanks to a number of unforced errors on the part of Georgia Southern. The Eagles committed 14 errors in the first set, including five service errors and only hit .133. College of Charleston struggled to find rhythm offensively early on and could not use GSU's errors to build a significant lead. A momentum-building block from Havel gave the Cougars a 19-15 lead and College of Charleston won the set, 25-20. Theesfeld and White both tallied three kills for the Cougars.

Georgia Southern jumped out to a quick start in the second set, building a 7-2 lead and eventually going up 16-10. However, College of Charleston rallied back by scoring six straight points to tie the game at 17. Sophomore Kallie McKown landed two service aces in the run while junior Kelly Kolich and Havel each had two kills. After several points traded, a Georgia Southern service error brought the Cougars to 20-19 but that was as close as they got for the rest of the match. Sanford made kills for all of the last five Eagle points and GSU won, 25-20.

Both teams struggled through the beginning of the third set with Georgia Southern making numerous service errors and the Cougars having a hard time passing. Neither team could pull away until the Eagles went on a three-point run to go up 19-16. College of Charleston rallied right back to take a 20-19 lead on consecutive kills from Theesfeld. After a dump attack from Davis tied the game at 23, Sanford retaliated for Georgia Southern to force set point. Sophomore Madelyn McGinnis entered the game for the Cougars after missing several weeks to injury and made a kill to tie the game at 24. A kill and block from Havel gave the Cougars a 26-24 set victory.

The Eagles jumped out to a significant lead in the fourth set, going up 15-10 and extending the lead to 19-11. College of Charleston cut it to 19-14, but the Eagles ran to a set victory on the next few points, winning 25-16. The Eagles hit .438 in the game while College of Charleston managed .267 with Chubb leading the way with four kills.

College of Charleston took an 8-7 lead into the break of the fifth set after a powerful swing from Chubb. A kill from White and Havel gave the Cougars a 13-10 lead and Theesfeld ended the final set with two kills in the last three points, helping College of Charleston win, 15-12.

The Cougars travel to face Davidson on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m.