VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 20-ranked University of West Florida volleyball team fell to Valdosta State 2-3 (22-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-27, 15-17) on the road Tuesday night. West Florida (19-5, 11-1 GSC) lost its first Gulf South Conference match of the season and saw it's GSC winning streak come to an end at 11. UWF's lead in the GSC standings was cut to one match as VSU improved to 10-2 in the conference.
 
UWF had a balanced offensive attack in the loss as five Argonauts tallied at least 10 kills. Junior Corisha Smith (Inwood, W.Va./Musselman HS) tallied 18 kills at a .220 clip with two blocks while junior Cora Bidlack (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS) had a career-high 16 kills at a .297 clip. Senior Autumn Duyn (Venice, Fla./Venice HS) added 14 kills and two blocks and also led UWF with 21 digs on Tuesday night.
 
Sophomore Monique StCyr (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown HS) had a career night in the road loss. StCyr tallied a career-high 12 kills with a career-high .333 attack percentage. The reigning GSC Offensive Player of the Week dished out a career-high 59 assists on the night and had nine digs and three blocks. The sophomore also had a career-high 27 attempts in the match.
 
Sophomore Rachel Neblett (Austin, Texas/Vista Ridge HS) had a career-high 12 kills with a career-high .333 attack percentage to go along with three blocks.           
 
Valdosta State took the opening set by a score of 25-22 as the Blazers tallied 18 kills with only four attack errors at an impressive .326 clip. Reigning GSC Player of the Year Jessica Codato had five kills at a .833 clip with 11 assists to lead VSU to a win in the first set.
 
VSU had a difficult second set offensively with only six kills and five errors (.027) as UWF's Corisha Smith began to heat up with seven kills at a .417 clip. StCyr had four kills on six swings and added 14 assists in the second set.
 
The West Florida offense was efficient in the third set as the Argonauts tallied 13 kills with only three attack errors (.345) behind a balanced attack as four Argos tallied at least two kills in the set. The third set saw the score tied 12 times and included five lead changes.
 
UWF would go on to tally 10 attack errors in the fourth set as VSU's five blocks led the Blazers to a 27-25 win in the set to tie the match. West Florida had match point at 24-23 but Valdosta State would end the set on a 4-1 run that included a pair of UWF attack errors.
 
Valdosta State jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth set that forced a UWF timeout. West Florida would tie the set at 12-12 before taking the 13-12 lead. A 2-0 run from the Blazers forced another West Florida timeout as Valdosta State held match point at 14-13.
 
Corisha Smith's 18th kill of the match pushed the fifth set to a 14-14 tie before a UWF service error gave the Blazers another shot at match point at 15-14. VSU would end the match on a 2-1 run to clinch the victory on their home floor. 
 
West Florida will next face GSC opponent West Alabama on the road Saturday, October 24 at 2 p.m. CT.
 
For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.