PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Argonauts sent their fans home happy after the first home match of the 2023 season at the UWF Field House, coming back from a 2-1 deficit in the opening matchup of the 2023 Springhill Suites Invitational to win a five-set thriller 3-2 over a stellar Wheeling squad on Thursday night.
Two upperclassmen from south Alabama led the way for UWF, as Jacque Martin and Avery Rodgers each headed the offensive attack with 17 kills apiece. The output tied a career high for Martin, as the junior from Daphne also reached that mark in the loss to Mississippi College last season. 17 was one shy of accomplishing the same feat for Rodgers; the junior right side out of Spanish Fort fired 18 kills in last season's opener, also against Wheeling to open the Springhill Suites Invitational. Jenna Zydlo was close behind with 15 kills.
In the absence of former setter and current assistant coach Taylor Vaneekeren, freshman Gabi Moulton and sophomore Izabelle Sanchez split up setting duties, registering 35 and 25 assists, respectively. Returning libero Meg Brackhan gathered 18 digs to lead the defense, and Zydlo assisted on seven blocks.
After a couple sustained runs allowed Wheeling to take the first set, the Argos answered in a back-and-forth second frame. Trailing 24-21, the Cardinals tied it up on three Argo attack errors before UWF took charge after an exchange of points with a Damyah Joyner kill and a Wheeling attack error to claim the set 27-25 and even the match.
The hosts fell behind by margins of 5-1, 8-3 and 17-12 before pulling closer in its second frame lost by a score of 25-21. However, the Blue and Green refused to go away that easily, overcoming deficits of three and four points in the fourth period. Trailing 19-16, Martin combined for four of five kills in a span of six points to stake her team to a 21-20 lead. When the visitors answered and tied it at 22, Martin and Alex Oliver each fired a kill to get to set point, and Oliver and Zydlo combined for a block to make the score 25-23 and send the game to a deciding set.
Martin and Rodgers once again split points to take a 2-1 lead, and another one by Rodgers with an ace by Sanchez made it 4-2. The match went back and forth again for a while before the Argos emphatically closed it out with five of the last six points thanks to a service error, three kills between Rodgers and Zydlo and a block shared by Zydlo and Martin.
UWF returns to action on Saturday morning to open the final day of the tournament, facing Oklahoma Baptist at 9 a.m., before taking on preseason 11th-ranked Southwest Minnesota State at 4:30 p.m.
