BOX SCORE
FLORENCE, Ala. – The University of West Florida volleyball team was the only team to beat North Alabama at home in 2015, and the Argonauts duplicated that feat by handing the Lions its first home loss of the 2016 season after winning in four sets (26-24, 24-26, 25-18, 28-26) on Friday evening.
The Argonauts were firing on all cylinders to begin the match, as UWF had numerous standouts in the opening game including
Corisha Smith (six kills),
Rachel Neblett (five kills, .833 hitting percentage) and
Monique StCyr (17 assists). West Florida held a 24-21 lead in the first set, but UNA responded with three consecutive points to even the game at 24-24. UWF clinched the first set, 26-24, after Neblett recorded a kill and UNA's Natasha Fomina recorded an attack error.
The second set started off hot for Neblett and the Argonauts, as Neblett posted four blocks in the early goings of the second set to help push UWF to a 10-6 lead. After that 10-6 lead, UNA rattled of a 5-2 run to cut UWF's lead to 12-11. UNA would eventually take control of the set after taking a 21-20 lead. Despite holding UNA to just a .149 attack percentage in the second set, the Lions evened the match at 1-1 with a 26-24 victory.
UNA jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third set, but after UWF was able to tie the set at 4-4, the Argonauts never looked back and posted its most convincing set victory of the night with a 25-18 win. Smith, who continued her torrent pace in the second set with five kills, kept it up in the third set by going 4-for-7 on her attacks.
In the clinching fourth set, UWF posted a red-hot .417 attack percentage for the game to put the Lions away. To pace the offense, Smith posted another seven-kill set, while StCyr recorded another 17-assist game. In the late stages, UNA held a 26-25 advantage, but the Argonauts utilized a Neblett kill and a pair of UNA attack errors to conclude the match and extend UWF's winning streak to four.
Smith set a new career-high with 22 kills, while StCyr tied her four-set match season-high with 56 assists. Neblett posted her 12
th match of the season of having a hitting percentage of at least .500, as she led all players in the match with a .519 hitting percentage coming from 15 kills on 27 swings with just one attack error.
Tori Martella led the team with 13 digs, while
Holly Mattmuller recorded her ninth double-digit dig performance of the season with 11.
The Argonauts held UNA to a .186 attack percentage, the Lions' fourth lowest of the season and the lowest since recording a .122 success rate against Valdosta State on Oct. 7. UWF also limited reigning GSC Offensive Player of the Week Natasha Fomina to just a .154 hitting percentage.
West Florida out-blocked North Alabama 13-5 for the match. UWF's 13 blocks is the third most in any match this season.
UWF, who now stands in first place in the GSC after the win, concludes the regular season tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. against Alabama Huntsville.
For information on UWF athletics, visit GoArgos.com.
