PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida volleyball team jumped out to a 1-0 start in Gulf South Conference play and improved to 8-5 overall with a thrilling 3-2 win over Alabama Huntsville on Tuesday evening in the UWF Field House. Senior Jordyn Poppen and freshman Veresia Yon led the Argonauts with 22 and 19 kills, respectively.
 
UWF has now won 91 consecutive GSC home matches, a streak that dates back to 2009.
 
The crowd was electric for UWF's annual Blackout match, and West Florida breezed through the first set with a 25-6 win, in which Poppen and Yon each had four kills.
 
The rest of the match, however, would be a back-and-forth battle, and UAH won sets 2 and 3 by a 27-25 margin. There were a combined 19 tie scores and 6 lead changes between those two sets, and Poppen and Yon each had a combined 10 kills.
 
UWF took back over in the fourth, quickly jumping out to a 10-2 lead. The lead would stay around eight points for the duration of the set, and UWF hit .455 in a dominant 25-16 win.
 
The fifth set proved to be a tough one, but UWF would prevail with a 15-11 victory. Between the nine ties and five lead changes in the race to 15 points, UWF recorded 3.0 blocks and held UAH to a .059 attack percentage in the final frame.
 
Ashton Marshall totaled 24 digs, marking her fourth match this year with at least 20. UWF tallied 13.0 blocks in the match, marking the ninth time in 13 contests this year that the Argonauts have out-blocked their opponent, with Phoebe Hozeska's seven total blocks leading all players.
 
How to Follow the Argos: For complete information on UWF Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @UWFVolleyball.