BOX SCORE
ROME, Ga. – The University of West Florida volleyball team dropped a closely contested Gulf South Conference match against third-place standing Shorter in five sets on Friday evening.
Entering today's match needing 12 digs to set UWF's career digs record,
Tori Martella recorded her the record-setting dig in the third set to claim the program's top spot, which was previously held by Jerica Carter who had 1,706 digs during her four-year career from 2005-2008. Last year, Martella set UWF's single-season digs record with 576, and has 478 so far in 2016. Martella recorded 30 digs against the Hawks – good for her second highest total this season and is just the seventh 30-dig match in program history – on Friday to lead the Argonaut defense. Martella's career total now stands at 1,725.
West Florida (19-7, 12-2 GSC) opened the match with a 25-20 victory despite Shorter opening the set on a 4-0 run. UWF responded later when going on a 3-0 run to end the set.
Shorter (17-6, 12-3 GSC) went on to claim the second set, and led by as much as seven when owning a 14-7 advantage. UWF would fight all the way back to make it just a one-point advantage for the Hawks at 20-19. The Hawks were able to utilize a pair of attack errors and a pair of kills to close the set and even the match at 1-1 with a 25-22 victory. The set loss for UWF snapped a streak of 15 consecutive sets won for the Argos.
UWF showcased its most impressive effort in the third set, dominating the Hawks 25-11. West Florida posted a match-best .308 hitting percentage, while holding Shorter to a -.147 success rate in the frame.
Shorter was able to force a deciding fifth set after a nail-biter of a fourth set, that the Hawks claimed 27-25. UWF held a 23-20 edge in the fourth set, but the Hawks rallied off four consecutive points to take a 24-23 lead. Shorter eventually closed the fourth set with a pair of UWF attack errors.
The fifth set featured a back-and-forth beginning, as Shorter held a slim 8-7 lead before the team's switched sides on the court. Shorter then responded with four consecutive points before clinching the fifth set 15-12 to end UWF's five-match winning streak.
West Florida suffers the setback despite outhitting Shorter .216-.124 for the match. West Florida was led by
Corisha Smith and
Kathryn Torre, who posted 20 and 17 kills, respectively. Torre led all players in the match with a .560 hitting percentage, her highest of the season when recording at least 10 kills.
Monique StCyr recorded 47 assists in the effort, and now is within striking distance of setting a record of her own, needing 17 assists to set the program's career record. StCyr's career assists total now stands at 2,910 and only trails Madeline Gonzalez, who recorded 2,926 assists from 2007-2008.
In addition to Martella's 30-dig performance, the Argos had a trio of players shine defensively with
Kourtney Pittaway (17 digs),
Holly Mattmuller (14 digs) and
Sarah Hayman (10 digs).
Rachel Neblett contributed a match-high five blocks in addition to her eight kills on the evening.
With a 12-2 GSC record, UWF remains in first place in the GSC by holding a half-match lead on Shorter. North Alabama is also in the cluster at the top of the conference with an 11-3 GSC mark.
West Florida leaps back into action tomorrow when it plays Lee on the road for a 2:00 p.m. contest.
For information on all UWF Athletics, visit GoArgos.com.
