2008 Woodie Awards
UWF volleyball team returns with 2-1 homestand
Joey Cooke / Staff Writer
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Discipline is what Melissa Wolter, head coach of the University of West Florida volleyball team, said would be the key to success for the reminder of the season.
"Every player knows what we expect from them all the time. It's a really tough thing to ask of your players, but the teams that will be at the conference tournament will be the ones that are disciplined," Wolter said.
The Argonauts completed a three-match home stand with a 2-1 record although they were without the services of Junior Naiara Fernandez.
"She's been sick. Right now, we have been playing it by ear." Wolter said. "We are trying to get her the medication she needs, and hopefully we will get her back on the floor to practice sometime during this week and see how it goes for this weekend. At this point it is a virus until proven otherwise."
After a twelve-day layoff, the weekend began with an upset loss to divisional opponent University of West Alabama on Friday night.
The Tigers posted their first conference victory in six tries with a 3-1 (30-26, 29-31, 31-29, 30-23) triumph over the Argonauts.
West Alabama started quickly in the first game with a 23-14 lead before West Florida cut the deficit to three at 28-25. However, consecutive kills by Morgan Graffigna and Teresa Clements gave the Tigers the 30-26 victory.
In the second game, Jessica Bragion's kill tied the match for the tenth time at 29-29 before three consecutive errors by West Alabama helped the Argonauts knot the contest at 1-1 with a 31-29 victory.
Similar to the first game, West Florida fell behind early in game three, trailing 10-4, before they recovered and took their first lead of the game at 15-14. A kill by Nicole Lepetsos gave West Florida a 28-26 advantage, which was followed by a West Alabama service error that gave the Argonauts game point. However, the Tiger's Amanda Heaton responded with three kills, including the game-winner, to give West Alabama a 31-29 game three victory.
With the score tied at 14, a kill by Rafaelia Maranhao gave West Alabama a lead they would not relinquish, winning the fourth game 30-23.
Jenny Lass led the Argonauts in kills with 16 and added 13 digs. Bragion added 15 kills and 10 digs, and Kali Kalache posted 13 kills.
"I think at this point we talked it over, and as a coach you look back at could of, would of, and should of and I don't think there is one particular thing I could blame it on. We just had a bad match," Wolter said. "West Alabama came into our gym and played a great match. I really don't think it had anything to do with the break. We just came out flat and we lacked chemistry, lacked drive, and we weren't the team were normally are and it happens. It happens to good teams."
After dropping the conference match to West Alabama on Friday, West Florida rebounded with a three game victory (30-21, 30-12, 30-18) Saturday afternoon over NCAA Division III opponent Elizabethtown College.
West Florida started strongly in game one by jumping out to a 21-10 lead before Elizabethtown recorded seven consecutive points to cut the deficit to four. However, the Argonauts recovered and eventually won game one 30-21.
The Argonauts dominated game two reeling off 11 consecutive points at one point before Lass finished off the game with a kill to give West Florida a 30-12 win.
West Florida started strong once again in game three, a 23-9 advantage. Although Elizabethtown put together a small rally to cut the Argonaut lead to 26-17, Lass finished the match with a kill for a 30-18 game three win.
The Argonauts' 16 service aces during the match is the second-most in team history for one match.
"At this point, we just have to go one match at a time," Wolter said. "The second we go further then that is when we sit back and don't think about the teams like the West Alabama and teams like that. Every team is in the way of our goal, and that's the way we are structuring it for the rest of the season."
West Florida completed their home stand beating conference rival Montevallo 3-1 (30-21, 19-30, 30-28, 30-16) on Sunday. West Florida improved to 15-5, (5-2 in the Gulf South Conference).
West Florida started quickly in game one by opening up a 14-2 lead and finished strong down the stretch, winning the first game 30-21.
With the score tied at 15-15 in the second game, the Lady Falcons reeled off six consecutive points, including three kills in that stretch by Monika Tortorici and West Florida was unable to recover as Montevallo won the second game 30-19.
In the third game, neither team held more than a two-point advantage. With the Argonauts trailing 26-24, a kill and block by Lass and Kalache tied the match at 26. Kills by Lass and two by Kalache gave West Florida a 30-28 game three win.
After the Argonauts scored the first four points in game four, however, Montevallo came back to tie the game at 11. With West Florida leading 15-12, the Argonauts reeled off five straight points to pull away. The Argonauts recorded the last four points of the match, including a kill by Bragion to give West Florida the match victory with a 30-16 game four win.
Lass led West Florida with 13 kills while adding 15 digs and Bragion tacked on 12 kills and 13 digs. Moyers collected 11 kills and Kalache tallied 10 kills and nine digs. The Argonauts totaled 14 team blocks for the third time this season.
West Florida returns to the road beginning with a visit to the University of North Alabama. North Alabama defeated West Florida 3-1 earlier this season in Pensacola.
"We are looking to go back in and have another shot at some of the things we could have done the first time around," Wolters said. "Anytime you play a team for the second time it gets harder because you know each other, you know what changes a team makes within a match and you know what they are capable of doing and what they do when their backs are against the wall, and what thing you can exploit against. Of course, this is a big weekend for us, but every weekend is big for the rest of the season."
"Huntsville is very strong. They took us to five (games), and in their gym they are going to be fighting for some revenge, so it is going to be a battle.
Looking forward to the rest of the season, the Argonauts have high hopes of making the Regional Tournament either through finishing the second half of the region games or by doing well in the conference tournament.
"The teams that are successful at the end of the year are the teams that do well in the second half of the conference play, it is not about the first half," Wolters said. "Mostly, right now, we just want to get to conference. Anything can happen from there. We would love to get a great seed going into conference but if that doesn't happen it's a clean slate once you get there."