TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 7 seed Argos (25-8, 15-1 GSC) saw their 2023 season come to a difficult end on Thursday afternoon with a 3-1 (25-20, 14-25, 25-19, 25-16) loss to No. 2 seed Lynn (25-7, 15-5 SSC) at the Bob Martinez Sports Center. 
 
UWF was unable to overcome 25 errors that led to just a .190 hitting percentage as compared to .281 with just 16 errors for Lynn. The Fighting Knights led in the hitting percentage category by at least .186 and had leads of at least four points midway through each of their set wins. 
 
After dropping the first frame, the Argos settled down and flipped the script on the home team on the scoreboard, outhitting them .400 to .054 and tallying 16 kills to two miscues while holding Lynn to just nine kills. From there, however, the Fighting Knights showed why they were seeded second behind host Tampa, utilizing a 10-1 run to take a 20-13 lead in the third and a 7-0 run to go up 14-8 in the fourth to place momentum firmly on their side and advance. 
 
Damyah Joyner led her team with 14 kills. Close behind her was Alex Oliver, who had 11 kills in her final match as an Argonaut. Three more Argos had six kills, as fellow seniors Jacque Martin and Bailee Sterling each reached the mark as well as junior middle Jenna Zydlo. Junior libero Meg Brackhan led the back line as she has day in and day out for this squad, totaling 27 digs. Setter Gabi Moulton wrapped up her illustrious freshman year by racking up 43 assists, five kills on a .714 percentage and a pair of aces. Sterling fired two aces herself, and Zydlo and Joyner both assisted two blocks. 
 
"I've got to give credit to Lynn. That's a really good team," Coach Melissa Wolter said after the match. "I thought they were a great opponent that we went toe-to-toe with. Really, my big takeaway is, had we made one more push in that third set, I think the ending of this is a whole lot different than it is. But I'm really proud of my girls, they came in to win it. I think the situation that we were in of being a 7 seed, playing a big, physical Lynn team that we had not seen before and hadn't seen in a couple years, I love just the belief they have in themselves, in their teammates, in what our program stands for. And I think that showed for the better part of the match. I think that fourth set got away from us, but it doesn't change, to me, the effort and the energy and the enthusiasm and just the fight that they have and that they've had all year long. There's a lot of takeaways. It doesn't give this match back for people like Bailee and our seniors, but I think there'll be a ripple effect from this that we'll feed off for years to come."
 
The Argos wrap up 2023 with their 12th overall and sixth consecutive GSC Championship as well as their 17th consecutive spot in the national tournament. They also boast three of the GSC's yearly awards: GSC Coach of the Year (Wolter), the GSC Freshman of the Year (Moulton) and GSC Player of the Year (Avery Rodgers). Rodgers earned First Team All-GSC votes, while Sterling, Zydlo and Brackhan were all selected to the Second Team. Sterling has also received All-South Region honors from the AVCA, in addition to Rodgers, who was given the honor from both the D2 CCA and AVCA.