PENSACOLA, Fla. - After a 1-2 finish in the Regional Crossover, the No. 18 Argonauts (17-6, 10-0 GSC) look to scratch back some wins this week in road matchups with West Georgia (11-10, 5-4 GSC) and Spring Hill (26-3, 18-0 SIAC) before hosting Valdosta State (15-9, 7-2 GSC) on the team's Senior Day. 
 
Despite the two setbacks, UWF still sits alone at the top of the Gulf South Conference standings. Two Argo middles are on the conference leaderboard for hitters, as Bailee Sterling and Jenna Zydlo are at sixth and eighth in hitting percentage with .307 and .283, respectively. The two also make their mark on the defensive side, as they are seventh and eighth in the conference in blocks with 69 total and 0.87 and 0.84 per set. Freshman setter Gabi Moulton continues her stellar debut season with 76 assists over the crossover weekend, keeping her firmly in sixth in the GSC with 481 assists and 5.87 per set. Annie Monaco's 31 assists and set average of 0.47 places her sixth there. Libero Meg Brackhan is moving up in the standings as well, as she now sits in second in digs with 357 and 4.25 per frame. 
 
Their first test of the week comes against West Georgia in a Wednesday night game at 5 pm ET/4 pm CT game at The Coliseum in Carrollton, Ga. The Wolves have the second-place hitter in the GSC, Sanai Young, who has switched places with Rodgers multiple times throughout the season. Young brings in a stat line of 159 kills for a percentage of .323. Zoe LaBreche is second in the conference in kills with 278 and 3.48 per frame, and Sarah Pipping is seventh with 214 and 2.74. LaBreche is also second in the GSC in aces with 41 and 0.51 per set. The Wolves have their own star freshman setter in Desha Van Veldhuizen, who boasts 507 assists with a set average of 6.34. Young and Taylor Allen are second and fifth in blocks with 1.04 and 0.93 per set, respectively. Kelli Kaiser of UWG leads the GSC in digs, beating out Brackhan with 4.44 per frame.   
 
West Georgia is coached by Kara Hellman, in her third season leading the program. West Florida has dominated the series, winning 37 of 40 all-time matchups, with its most recent loss in the series occurring in 2013. This game will probably be the teams' last meeting for the foreseeable future barring postseason pairings, as this is the Wolves' final season before they move up to Division I. 
 
The Argos then head down the road to Mobile, Ala., for their final regular season non-GSC matchup on Friday at Spring Hill. The game begins at 5 pm at Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center. The Badgers are far and away the top team in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, sitting in first place in the West Division with their undefeated record and outpacing the 14-1 mark of East Division leader Edward Waters. Spring Hill is No. 1 in the league in points, hitting percentage, kills, assists, blocks and digs. The team is also tops in opponent hitting percentage, opponent assists, opponent kills and opponent aces. 
 
Four of the top 10 hitters in the SIAC hail from SHC, including Jaylyne Bell in first place with 209 kills on a .391 percentage and Brooke Borgmeyer in third with 232 on .333. Borgmeyer is sixth in the league in kills with 3.05 per frame. Jessica Fairly and Mia Saavedra are seventh and ninth in assists with 5.89 and 5.18 per set, respectively. Mikayla Boyer is fourth in digs with 395 and 4.20 per set and eighth in aces with 43 and 0.46 per set. Bell and Hayley Hillman are the top two blockers in the SIAC with 89 total and 0.95 per frame and 79 total and 0.89 per frame, respectively. 
 
UWF has an unblemished 21-0 mark against Spring Hill in its program history, with the teams' meeting last season resulting in the closest margin, a hard-fought 3-2 win in the Springhill Suites Invitational in Argonauts coach Melissa Wolter's 500th career victory. Before that, every match dating back to 2001 had been decided in three sets. The Badgers are under the guidance of legendary head coach Peggy Martin, in her 14th season at SHC and 47th overall after 33 years as coach at Central Missouri. 
 
The last contest of the week is when the Argos take on Valdosta State, the third-place team in the GSC, at UWF Field House on Saturday at 12:30 pm. The Blazers have the most digs of any team in the conference with 1481 overall and 16.27 per set. Christina Pettigrew is in third place in the league with a .320 hitting percentage and is in the same place in blocks with 92 total and 1.01 per set. Mackenzie Murray is sixth in kills with 262 and 2.88 per set. Audrey Bennett has the second-highest assist mark with 671 and 7.46 per frame. Mallory Roney comes in at fourth in aces with 44 and 0.48 per frame.  
 
Kaleigh Zoucha is in her sixth season as head coach of VSU. West Florida has won 34 of the 40 all-time meetings between the longtime conference rivals, with the Argos' last loss coming in a five-set loss in 2015. Four of the Blazers' six wins have come in two seasons, as they tallied two wins over UWF in 2014 and 2001. 
 
Senior Day:
The seniors who will be honored on Saturday are Stephanie Barber, Jacque Martin, Alex Oliver and Bailee Sterling. Barber, a fifth-year setter from Woodbury, Minn., has played in 37 matches throughout her career, totaling 159 assists and 56 digs to go with two blocks and four service aces. She has twice earned GSC Fall Academic Honor Roll recognition. 
 
Martin is a fourth-year outside hitter from Daphne, Ala., who has also been named to the GSC Fall Academic Honor Roll twice in her career. Through 80 matches and 216 sets played, she has racked up 274 kills on a .159 hitting percentage, 327 digs, 33 blocks, 49 assists and 51 aces.
 
Oliver, also a fourth-year outside and two-time honoree on the Academic Honor Roll, hails from Jasper, Ala. She also has stout numbers and won GSC Freshman of the Week in 2021 with her performance in her first week of collegiate conference play. Throughout 75 matches and 239 sets, she has tallied 511 kills with a .202 offensive percentage, 238 digs, 109 blocks, 23 assists and 21 aces. 
 
Lastly, Sterling is a fifth-year middle hitter from Kearney, Neb., who came to UWF last spring as a graduate transfer from Nebraska-Kearney. After being named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll in 2019 and Second-Team All-MIAA in 2021, she received AVCA All-Region and AVCA Division II All-America honors in 2022. Throughout her career as a Loper and now an Argonaut, she has registered 737 kills on .316 hitting, 200 digs, 245 blocks, 20 assists and 38 aces through 98 games and 325 sets.      
 
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