PENSACOLA, Fla. – For the 18^th time in program history, the University of West Florida Volleyball team will embark in the Gulf South Conference's Championship Tournament where they are looking to secure their 10^th GSC Championship in program history.

Coming into the tournament with a 31-1 record including a perfect 16-0 mark in regular season conference play, the Argonauts will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming tournament and will automatically advance to the semifinals of the tournament which begin on Saturday.

Coinciding with this top-seeded designation, this weekend's tournament will all be played right here in Pensacola, Florida at the UWF Field House. Matches will begin on Friday and run through Sunday when the championship match will be played at noon between the two winners from Saturday.

Tickets for this weekend's tournament will be $5 at the door and a complete tournament webpage with this weekend's bracket and viewing information can be found here.

About West Florida: Ranked as the No. 7 team in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll, the Argonauts are playing for more than their tenth GSC Championship this weekend as they will also look to hold onto the top spot in the South Region with another unbeaten weekend of play.

With the conference also releasing postseason awards this week, West Florida and their players were well represented after a regular season that saw them break many records and rank near the top of the nation in many categories.

Middle Blocker Veresia Yon was named the GSC Player of the Year as well as First Team All-GSC after dominating all regular season for the Argonauts both offensively and defensively. Leading the team in points, kills, blocks, and hitting percentage, Yon not only ranks high within the conference but nationally as well.

With a hitting percentage of .484 on the season Yon ranks 1^st in the nation in hitting percentage, 4^th in the nation in total blocks (133.0), 9^th in the nation in blocks per set (1.28), and 40^th in the nation in points per set (4.22).

Setter Taylor Vaneekeren earned GSC Setter of the Year honors as well as All-GSC First Team recognition after running one of the top offenses in college volleyball all season long. Averaging nearly 11 assists per set, the Junior has already eclipsed over 1,000 assists on the season as well as her 2,000^th assist of her career earlier this year.

Her efforts have West Florida ranked 2^nd in the nation in hitting percentage (.306), 2^nd in the nation in Team Kills (1,571), and 3^rd in the nation in Team Assists (1,424).

Libero Ashton Marshall was another award winner this week as she was named GSC Libero of the Year and Second Team All-GSC after leading the Argo defense all season long. The three-time Defensive Player of the Week selection played in every set for West Florida this season and led the team as a leader on and off the court.

Behind Marshall's guidance, the Argonaut defense has limited opponents to a .102 hitting percentage on the season which is the 5^th best in the nation. Combined with a dominant blocking game, Marshall and the West Florida defense are only allowing 9.57 kills per set to opponents this season.

In addition to these players, Madi Cooler also earned First Team All-GSC honors while graduate Right Side Tyler Fezzey took home Second Team All-GSC honors after their fantastic regular season play this season as well.

Scouting the Field: This year's GSC Championship Tournament field features Alabama Huntsville (2), Union (3), Shorter (4), Auburn Montgomery (5), Montevallo (6), West Georgia (7), and Mississippi College (8) in addition to the Argonauts.

From this field, West Florida has squared off with Alabama Huntsville, Auburn Montgomery, Montevallo, and Mississippi College twice this season while only seeing Union, Shorter, and West Georgia once during the regular season.

From these 11 matchups during the regular season, the Argonauts only dropped four sets in all 37 sets played with West Florida sweeping eight of these matches.

As the top seed, the Argonauts can face any of Auburn Montgomery, Mississippi College, or Shorter in their first match on Saturday. Throughout the regular season, West Florida went a combined 15-0 in five matches played against these three teams and will look to continue their success this weekend.

In the bottom half of the bracket, the Chargers of Alabama Huntsville will also be in store for a first-day bye as they prepare to take on either Montevallo, West Georgia, or Union on Saturday. The Chargers have only fallen three times in GSC play all season long and will look to get revenge against the Argos during this tournament.

A team to look out for in this tournament will be Montevallo who are 9-1 over their last ten matches including taking the Argonauts to five sets right here in Pensacola just a few weeks ago. The Falcons who are led by First Team All-GSC selection Evelina Teran will look to pull off some more upsets to secure their first-ever GSC Championship.

Schedule for the Weekend: Action will begin this Friday at the UWF Field House with both the No. 5 and No. 8 teams squaring off as well as the No. 6 and No. 7 teams to determine who will play Union and Shorter later in the afternoon.

West Florida's first action will come on Saturday at 2 pm (CST) in one of two semifinal matchups that will be played on the day. Should they advance, Sunday's championship match will be set for noon (CST) with the winner being crowned 2021 Gulf South Conference Champions.

How to Follow the Argos: For complete information on UWF Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @UWFVolleyball