PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 19-ranked University of West Florida volleyball team defeated previously unbeaten Valdosta State 3-1 (15-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-21) at home on Tuesday night in front of 835 fans in the UWF Field House. West Florida (15-2, 8-0 GSC) hands VSU its first loss of the season and takes over sole possession of first place in the Gulf South Conference with the win.
 
"Tonight's match was all anybody could have asked for," head coach Melissa Wolter said. "Every player should be able to have the opportunity to play in front of the type of crowd we had tonight. I could barely hear anything because it was so electric in the gym."
 
Junior Corisha Smith (Inwood, W.Va./Musselman HS) tied her career high for kills in a match with 18 and was efficient on the night with only one attack error, good enough for a .459 attacking percentage.
 
"I'm just glad we had specific players on the floor like Corisha (Smith) step up and start turning it up a notch to get that win," Wolter said. "Corisha is a playmaker. People can see that she hits the ball really hard but what people don't know until you watch her in a match like tonight is that she thrives under pressure. She found ways to manufacture points tonight when she was put in difficult situations."
 
West Florida tallied nine attack errors and a pair of service errors in the opening set that helped Valdosta State take control of the match with a 25-15 score in the first set. VSU had an impressive 81 percent side out percentage in the first set to go along with a .310 team attacking percentage.
 
Smith helped UWF turn things around in the second set with seven kills on 13 attempts with no attack errors as West Florida tallied 19 kills in the set. UWF trailed 19-20 late in the second set before the Argos strung together a 6-0 run to tie the match at one set apiece. The second set saw the score tied 13 times and included five lead changes.
 
The Argonauts held the lead for the majority of the third set and forced an early VSU timeout with an 8-4 run to open the set. UWF came out of the timeout on a 6-1 run to push the lead to 14-9 to force another Valdosta State timeout. West Florida had the largest lead of the match late in the third set by a score of 19-11 before taking the 2-1 lead in the match by a score of 25-19. The Blazers were held to nine kills in the third set and a .059 team attacking percentage as UWF tallied a match-high .314 team attacking percentage.

West Florida clinched the match in the fourth set by a score of 25-21 behind a balanced offensive attack. UWF led 18-13 late in the fourth set before a 7-2 VSU run cut the lead to two as the Argos led 22-20 late in the match. West Florida would close out the match on a 3-1 run to take the set and clinch the match.
 
Senior Autumn Duyn (Venice, Fla./Venice HS) had 13 kills, 16 digs and a pair of blocks on the night while junior Kathryn Torre (Highland, Ill./State College of Florida) added a season-high 11 kills and five blocks in the win. Sophomore Rachel Neblett (Austin, Texas/Vista Ridge HS) tallied nine kills and four blocks to help pace the Argos on the night.
 
Junior Tori Martella (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) had a team-high 18 digs while sophomore Monique StCyr (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown HS) added 43 assists, 12 digs and a service ace.      
 
West Florida will continue Gulf South Conference play on the road this weekend as the team faces Alabama Huntsville on Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m. CT before facing North Alabama on Saturday, October 10 at 2 p.m. CT.
 
For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.