CLINTON, Miss. - No. 16 UWF traveled to the site of its most recent loss in Gulf South Conference play almost a year later to the day, a 3-2 setback that snapped the Argos' 51-game conference winning streak. It appeared they would suffer a similar fate this time around after falling behind 2-0 heading into the crucial third frame, but the Argonauts (9-4, 3-0 GSC) completed an incredible rally to win this five-setter (19-25, 19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-10) over Mississippi College (3-8, 2-2 GSC) at A.E. Wood Coliseum tonight.
The Choctaws jumped out to sizable leads in the first two sets that they held on to win by identical scores despite surges by West Florida. The situation looked especially dire as the former took an early 4-0 lead in the third set, but UWF took advantage of three errors to go with an
Avery Rodgers kill and an
Annie Monaco ace, plays indicative of their performances, to go up 5-4. The five points were the beginning of an 11-1 run for the visitors that included two more miscues from the hosts and four kills between Rodgers,
Caiden Largent and
Gabi Moulton. After trading scores, Rodgers and Moulton traded the honors of kill and assist on back-to-back points to put their team up 19-12. The Choctaws scored eight to get within one, but two Rodgers kills and a Monaco ace combined with three errors made a 25-19 set favor the Argos for the first time in the match.
The Argos trailed early again in the fourth set, a deficit that Mississippi College maintained by answering every UWF surge to lead 17-14. However, the latter put up two 5-0 runs as part of a 10-2 span to take the lead, the first of which saw three points come via Rodgers kills and the second with three Largent kills. After the home team clawed back with three points, Rodgers came up big once again with a kill to send the match to a fifth set.
With another kill, Rodgers started the final frame right where she left off before another from her in conjunction with a
Jenna Zydlo kill and a Largent block put them ahead after a 3-1 deficit. Those three in addition to
Annie Monaco were responsible for all of the offensive points in the frame. Moulton assisted eight of the ten kills in it, including the last two from Largent and Zydlo that finished off the comeback and enabled the Argos to exact revenge and leave Clinton with its new streak of conference wins still intact.
Rodgers finished with a career-best outing, posting 22 kills to just two errors for a .488 hitting percentage in addition to nine digs.
Meg Brackhan also had a career high of 27 digs on the back line as well as six assists. With 10 kills and 13 scoops to go with five aces, Monaco registered her first double-double since last season, when she played for Robert Morris. Additionally, Moulton had a career day by racking up 38 assists and 10 digs and also firing four kills on as many attacks for a perfect offensive percentage. Zydlo tallied eight kills and four total blocks. Largent got her most extensive playing time and had nine kills with an ace and a solo block.
The Argonauts are back at home for their next five games, with the first one on Friday at 6 p.m. against Union.
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