LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The University of West Florida volleyball team sealed the deal on the No. 1 spot in the upcoming Gulf South Conference Tournament with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-19, 27-29, 25-19) win over West Alabama.
Lindsay Homme (Willowbrook, Ill.) put up a career high 22 kills while hitting .419 during the win as UWF improves to 11-0 in conference play and 20-9 overall. Libero Anna Stoecklein also had a big night, finishing with 29 digs, one shy of her career record 30.
The GSC clinching fourth set started off with UWF gaining a 6-1 advantage over the Tigers after an Autumn Duyn (Venice, Fla.) kill. But the Tigers didn’t go down easy, coming within a point of the Argo lead at 13-12. UWF then went on a 4-1 run to jut out to the 17-3 advantage on a UWA error. A Haley Shackelford (Colorado Springs, Colo.) kill then put West Florida up 21-15 before another Tiger error ended the match, 25-19.
In the opening set, the Argos and the Tigers played a tight one with the teams tying things up at 11. The set then saw eight more ties before UWA took a short lead at 20-18 late in the set. The Argos then knotted up the set at 21 with a Duyn kill but the Tigers caught up with UWF again at 23. Jenny Bellairs (Osage, Iowa) gave West Florida the lead with a kill from a Molly Pearce (Tallahassee, Fla.) assist with a UWA attack error ending the set at 25-23.
The Argos edged themselves out to a 12-4 lead in the second set with a pair of Duyn kills and a service error on the Tigers. Shackelford and Duyn then grabbed back-to-back kills as UWF went up eight on West Alabama. The Tigers managed to cut the lead to five but three Chandler Carney (Indianapolis, Ind.) kills down the stretch gave UWF the set two win.
In the tightest set of the match, West Florida led most of the way early on until a four point UWA run tied things up at 13. The Argos then served for set point three times before ultimately dropping their only set of the night, 29-27.
Bellairs and Shackelford each finished behind Homme with 11 kills each while Duyn and Carney grabbed 10. Duyn also had a 20-dig night while Bellairs was good for four blocks.
The Argos will now head to Huntsville, Ala. for a meeting with Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday at 2 p.m. For more information on West Florida volleyball and all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.