SPARTANBURG, S.C. — UWF defeated Alabama State 3-0 Friday, winning 25-14, 25-11, 25-21, in its first Division I victory. The Argos hit .366 with 46 kills and held Alabama St. to a .082 hitting percentage.
After the opening set was tied 2-2, the Argos moved ahead 4-2 on
Emily Breazeale's service ace and a block by
Kumara Flanagain and
Delaney Hanowell. The Argos then reached 11-5 behind kills from
Aniston Cochran,
Gabi Moulton and
Camryn Brooks and a
Karyna Werley ace. Breazeale posted a kill to begin a four-point stretch that pushed the lead to 15-6, and after Alabama St. took the next two points, another Breazeale kill gave the Argos the serve back at 16-8. Moulton served four straight points from there, with Flanagain's kill, Hanowell's block and Breazeale's kill moving the score to 20-8. The Argos closed the set 25-14 on Cochran's kill to take a 1-0 match advantage.
Alabama State opened the second set with an early 6-4 advantage, but the Argos strung together kills by
Talya Sampson, Werley and Breazeale to climb back and take a 7-6 lead. The Lady Hornets tied it at 7-7, but the Argos answered with three straight points and later used back-to-back blocks to build a 13-8 lead. Breazeale's kill gave the Argos the serve at 14-10, and
Kennedy Plummer followed by serving nine consecutive points as Sampson, Hanowell and Flanagain supplied kills, Plummer added an ace, and Flanagain capped the stretch with a block for a 23-10 advantage. After ASU stopped the run at 23-11, Sampson put down a kill, and
Madison Joyner served an ace to finish the set 25-11.
The third set moved back and forth early, with
Maddie Mire serving an ace during a 6-4 Argos lead before Alabama State answered, and later went ahead 7-6. Hanowell, Breazeale, Brooks and Flanagain supplied kills as the Argos kept trading points through a 16-16 tie. Sampson logged a kill to put the Argos up 17-16, as the Lady Hornets moved in front 18-17 on consecutive Argos errors. Moulton tied the match with a kill at 18 before the Argos won the next four points on Brooks' serve, including a Moulton block and two Moulton kills, to lead 22-18. ASU cut the margin to 23-21, but a service error brought up set point, and Breazeale finished the set 25-21 with a kill from Brooks.
Hanowell recorded nine kills on 13 attacks with no errors while adding eight total blocks. Flanagain finished with seven kills on a .429 hitting percentage and six total blocks. Madalyn Mire collected 17 digs and added six assists. Werley posted 18 assists, five digs and two service aces.
The Argos will remain in Spartanburg as they close out the Big South Tournament. UWF will face off against UNC Wilmington at 9:00 a.m. before finishing the weekend against host USC Upstate at 1:00 p.m. 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).
