PENSACOLA, Fla. — The University of West Florida volleyball team (15-8, 7-6 ASUN) fell to Jacksonville (12-15, 6-7 ASUN) in five sets Wednesday night at PenAir Field House. After dropping the opening set, the Argos rallied to take a 2-1 match lead, including a dominant 25-9 third-set win, before Jacksonville came back to take the final two sets. The Argos fell by scores of 16-25, 25-23, 25-9, 18-25 and 4-15.
Jacksonville took control of the opening set early, using a 5-0 run to build an 8-3 lead before adding seven straight points to extend its advantage to 15-4. West Florida fought back with a four-point run behind kills from Delaney Hanowell and Gabi Moulton to cut the deficit to 19-12. The Argos continued to battle down the stretch, but Jacksonville held on to take the first set 25-16.
The Argos responded in the second set after falling behind 11-6. Kills from Talya Sampson, Emily Breazeale and Hanowell helped West Florida even the score at 13-13 before a 5-1 stretch gave the Argos an 18-15 advantage. Jacksonville answered with a run of its own to take a 21-20 lead, setting up a back-and-forth finish. Trailing 23-22, Lili Gegovic delivered back-to-back kills to even the score at 23-23 before Madison Joyner stepped to the service line and delivered consecutive aces to secure a 25-23 win and even the match at one set apiece.
West Florida carried that momentum into the third set, putting together its strongest offensive performance of the night. The Argos jumped out to a 9-3 lead behind a four-point serving run from Camryn Brooks and continued to control the set. After Jacksonville cut the lead to 12-9, Gegovic delivered a kill to give the serve back to Karyna Werley. From there, Werley served 12 consecutive points as the Argos closed the set on a 13-0 run. Werley recorded two service aces during the stretch, while Gegovic added three kills and Breazeale delivered the final point to secure a dominant 25-9 win. West Florida hit .440 in the set with 14 kills and just three attack errors while holding Jacksonville to a -.088 hitting percentage.
The Argos looked to close out the match in the fourth, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead behind a Gegovic kill and a Werley service ace. Jacksonville worked its way back into the set, tying the score at 11-11 before the two teams traded points through six ties. With West Florida trailing 18-17, Jacksonville put together a six-point run to reach set point at 24-17. Werley briefly stopped the run with a kill, but Jacksonville answered on the following point to take the set 25-18 and force a fifth.
Jacksonville carried its momentum into the deciding set, opening with four straight points before a Hanowell kill put the Argos on the board. The Dolphins continued to pull away, using a nine-point run to stretch their lead to 14-1. West Florida answered with three straight kills, including two from Moulton and one from Gegovic, but Jacksonville closed out the set 15-4 to take the match.
Moulton led the Argos offensively with 15 kills, while Hanowell and Gegovic each added nine. Hanowell also led West Florida at the net with seven total blocks. Werley finished with 30 assists, three service aces and nine digs, while Brooks recorded a team-high 19 digs. Breazeale added eight kills and 16 digs in the loss.
UWF will remain at home to host Queens in its final home match of the regular season. The match is set to begin at noon on ESPN+. Live stats will be available on GoArgos.com.
For more information on the UWF volleyball program, visit GoArgos.com and follow the team on social media at @uwfvolleyball (Instagram) and @UWFVolleyball (X).
