PENSACOLA, Fla. — West Florida fell to Tampa 3-1 on Saturday, dropping the match 28-30, 21-25, 25-13, 21-25. The Argos responded with a dominant third set, hitting .458 with 13 kills and just two errors, but finished at .152 for the match while Tampa hit .191.
West Florida took an early 3-1 lead in the opening set behind an Emily Breazeale kill, a Karyna Werley service ace and a Tampa attack error. After Tampa moved ahead 6-5, kills from Talya Sampson and Kumara Flanagain helped the Argos regain an 8-6 advantage. UWF extended its lead to 13-9 on Werley's second ace before a five-point run, highlighted by kills from Sampson and Gabi Moulton, pushed the margin to 18-12. Tampa battled back to tie the set at 19-19, but Delaney Hanowell answered with a kill to put West Florida back in front. Flanagain gave the Argos set point at 24-23, but Tampa answered to force extra points. West Florida fought off multiple Tampa set points, tying the frame at 25-25, 26-26, 27-27 and 28-28 before the Spartans scored the final two points to take the set 30-28.
The second set remained tied through 7-7 before Tampa scored four straight points to build an 11-7 lead. The Spartans later stretched the advantage to 14-9, but West Florida answered with seven of the next eight points. Kills from Breazeale, Aniston Cochran, Flanagain and Moulton helped spark the run before Moulton's block put the Argos ahead 16-15. Tampa responded with three straight points, but West Florida worked back to ties at 19-19 and 20-20 behind Breazeale and Sampson. From there, Tampa scored five of the final six points to take the set 25-21 and build a 2-0 match lead.
West Florida responded in the third. After Tampa moved ahead 8-6, the Argos scored four of the next five points, highlighted by a Breazeale kill and a Madalyn Mire service ace, to take a 10-8 lead. Tampa tied the set at 10-10 before UWF took control with six unanswered points. Moulton, Cochran and Sampson each recorded kills during the run as the Argos built a 16-10 advantage. West Florida continued to pull away, extending the lead to 19-12 before scoring four straight points with Cochran serving. Hanowell and Breazeale closed the set with consecutive kills to give the Argos a 25-13 win and force a fourth set.
Mire's ace tied the fourth set at 3-3, but Tampa eventually built a 14-8 advantage. West Florida chipped away at the deficit before scoring four straight points with Werley serving to even the set at 16-16. Breazeale had two kills during the run, while Werley added an ace. Tampa regained control with a 22-18 lead, but UWF pulled within 22-20 after a Tampa ball-handling error and a block from Werley and Hanowell. The Spartans answered down the stretch, with Ainhoa Molleja recording Tampa's final two kills to close out the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.
Breazeale led West Florida with nine kills and added six digs. Moulton finished with 25 assists, nine digs and six kills, while Mire collected 21 digs and two service aces. Werley added 15 assists, 10 digs, three aces and three block assists.
The Argos return to action Friday, Sept. 18, against Central Arkansas at 2 p.m. at Xtream Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. Live stats will be available on GoArgos.com.
