BOX SCORE

LAKELAND, Fla. – University of West Florida volleyball advanced to the South Regional final with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Palm Beach Atlantic Friday evening at Florida Southern.

Monique StCyr set a new single-match career-high with 63 assists, Jordyn Poppen matched her season-high with 19 kills, Nadine Williams added 18 kills plus 19 digs, and Rachel Neblett chipped in 17 kills as the No. 17 Argos downed the 9th-ranked Sailfish. UWF led 2-0 in the match before Palm Beach roared back to even it at 2-2. The Argos took a thrilling tiebreaker set 15-13 to advance.

"That was epic. That's the only word I can use to describe it," said head coach Melissa Wolter. "Palm Beach is a great team, a great program… I couldn't be happier for our players, for our program, for our university. That's a huge win for us."

This is the fourth time in program history that West Florida has advanced to the final round of the South Regional and the first time since 2013. The Argos will take on the winner of the Florida Southern-Saint Leo semifinal. First serve in tomorrow's match is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. CT.

The match marked the first time this year that UWF has won a fifth set after initially taking a 2-0 lead.

"Like coach said, after the fourth set, it didn't feel like things really were flowing," said StCyr, who rallied the team with an inspiring message between the fourth and fifth sets. "This is our last crack at playing -- not just seniors, for everyone for the season.

"There's no reason not to play out of your mind and play for each other and play like no one can touch you because no one can when you're in that mindset. That was the message I tried to tell them after the fourth set: don't be afraid."

Palm Beach Atlantic and UWF played close to open the first set. After the Argos evened the set at 8-8, Palm Beach reeled off an 8-4 run to force a UWF timeout. From there, the Argos rallied for a 9-6 run of their own culminating in a Jordyn Poppen ace that cut the Sailfish advantage to 21-19. UWF would trim the lead to one at 22-21 on back-to-back errors by PBA. The Argos took the lead at 24-23 on a kill by StCyr before Palm Beach evened the set at 24-24.

A kill from Neblett put West Florida up 25-24 and another kill by Neblett eventually evened the score 26-26. Williams registered a kill to make it 27-26 before a block by Caleigh Morrison and StCyr sealed the first at 28-26.

In the first, Neblett led the team with six kills and a .500 hitting percentage plus one service ace. Williams had five kills and Poppen had four kills plus one service ace. StCyr finished with three kills plus 13 assists.

UWF put together a 10-6 run early in the second to build a 14-10 lead. Williams scored seven of the Argos' first 18 points with six kills and one service ace. UWF made the lead 18-13 to force a Sailfish timeout. Back-to-back kills by Williams and Neblett finished the set at 25-19.

Williams finished the second with seven kills. Neblett added three kills. StCyr added fourteen more assists. Morrison registered six blocks through the first two sets.

PBA built a 10-4 lead in the third before a 7-1 West Florida rally tied the stanza at 11-11. With the score tied 13-13, Palm Beach went on a 5-2 run to take a lead it would not relinquish. The Sailfish took the third by a final of 25-22.

The Sailfish started hot in the fourth with a 5-0 run. They would build the lead as large as ten before winning 25-18 to force a tiebreaker set.

In the fifth, UWF built an 11-7 lead only to see Palm Beach Atlantic tie the score at 13-13. Out of a timeout, the Argos got kills from Neblett and Williams to clinch the win. Williams registered three kills in the final set. Poppen also posted three. Neblett finished with two, including the go-ahead point at 14-13.

UWF outhit Palm Beach .231 to .206 in the match. The Argos finished with ten blocks while the Sailfish finished with 13. Logan Kael led UWF with 25 digs. Courtney Markes would add 15 digs while Sarah Hayman finished with 14. West Florida had five players finish with double-figures in the digs column. StCyr notched 63 assists. The 19 total kills by Poppen matched a season-high.

"I'm really excited and anxious to let it soak in a little bit, but mostly just extremely proud of these young women and what they've given to this program," said Wolter. "It's just a huge blessing."

The win was the 13th in a row for West Florida, and the five-set match was the team's first since a 3-2 victory over Valdosta State Oct. 17.

#ARGOS#