BOX SCORE
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The University of West Florida volleyball team utilized a .447 attack percentage to clinch its seventh-ever Gulf South Conference Regular Season Championship after sweeping the Alabama Huntsville Chargers on the road on Sunday.
UWF (24-8, 17-3 GSC) saw a motivated UAH club right out the gate, as the Chargers jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first set. Corisha Smith sparked the comeback by recording eight kills and a .583 hitting percentage in the set to help UWF erase UAH's lead. With the set tied at 19-19, the Argos and Chargers went back-and-forth until a pair of kills from Kathryn Torre ended the set and gave UWF a 1-0 lead.
After the mini-scare in the first set, UWF dominating in the second and third sets by hitting .500, going 30-for-54 on their attacks with only three attack errors. The UWF defense, led by Tori Martella, Monique StCyr and Sarah Hayman, contained UAH (15-15, 8-11 GSC) to just a .086 hitting percentage in the last two frames. UWF would win both the second and third by scores of 25-12.
Martella, who owns UWF's career digs record with 1820 career digs, broke the single-season digs record at West Florida with a 14-dig effort against the Chargers. Martella broke her own record, which she set last year, with her 14th dig of the day to give her 573 on the season. Martella's dig total is the most in the GSC and second most in the South Region.
StCyr posted 42 assists in the match, good for her season-high in any three-set match this season.
Smith also posted a three-set match season-high with an astounding 17 kills on the afternoon. Jordyn Poppen recorded her most impressive single-match performance of the season, tallying season-highs with 10 kills and a match-best .643 hitting percentage.Torre added in 12 kills and converted at a strong .524 clip.
West Florida will now serve as host of the 2016 Gulf South Conference Tournament semifinals and finals, which is set to begin on Saturday. UWF will play the winner of Lee and Christian Brothers, who are set to play on Tuesday at 7:00 in Memphis, on Saturday at 12:30 for a semifinal matchup.
For information on all UWF athletics, visit GoArgos.com.
