PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida volleyball team avenged a regular-season road loss by defeating Gulf South Conference opponent Shorter 3-1 (25-23, 25-16, 25-27, 25-22) at home on Tuesday night. West Florida (22-6, 15-3 GSC) handed Shorter its second conference loss of the season after holding the Lady Hawks to a .160 team attacking percentage on Tuesday.
"I think tonight provided an opportunity for us to feel good about how we have progressed as a team after losing to Shorter on the road earlier this year," head coach
Melissa Wolter said. "At that point in the season we didn't really know who we were as a team; we hadn't been pushed yet. So it was neat to see our team respond tonight and not rely on just one player."
UWF sophomore
Corisha Smith (Inwood, W.Va./Musselman HS) tallied a team-high 15 kills in the win at a .375 attacking percentage. Senior
Sarah Scott (Plainfield, Ill./Texas-San Antonio) stepped up big in the match with 13 kills at an impressive .478 clip with three blocks.
West Florida freshman
Monique StCyr (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown HS) tallied 31 assists in the win while junior
Colleen Starrs (West Bloomfield, Mich./Walled Lake Central HS) had 21 digs in the win.
C. Smith led the Argonauts in the opening set with five kills on 10 swings at a .400 clip. Trailing 8-10 in the opening set, West Florida used a 4-0 run to force an early Shorter timeout. UWF led 23-21 late in the first set before SU tied it up at 23 points apiece. UWF would go on to close out the first set on a 2-0 run to take the set by a score of 25-23.
Shorter had a tough set offensively in the second as the Lady Hawks turned in a .000 team attacking percentage with eight kills and eight errors on 28 swings. West Florida took advantage and tallied 15 kills on 24 swings at an impressive .500 team attacking percentage to take the second set 25-16.
The start of the third proved to be no different than the first with both teams going point-for-point throughout the set. Trailing 21-23 late in the third set, UWF used a 2-0 run to force a SU timeout. Shorter responded out of the timeout and took the third set by a score of 25-27.
West Florida trailed 2-6 in the fourth set before taking an early timeout. Trailing by five out of the timeout, UWF fought back to tie the match at 18 points. The Argonauts would go on the close out the fourth set on a 7-4 run highlighted by a trio of kills from sophomore
Cora Bidlack (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS).
West Florida will next face Gulf South Conference opponent West Georgia on the road Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. ET before wrapping up the regular season at home by facing Mississippi College on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. CT.
For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
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