VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State athletic department has home matches for volleyball and women's soccer on Tuesday, Oct., 4, while the Blazer football team returns home after three weeks on the road for Cancer Awareness Weekend as all fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game Saturday evening against rival West Alabama at 7 p.m.  Volleyball, soccer and men's and women's cross country all have important road trips this week, too.
Volleyball

 
The Valdosta State volleyball team looks for redemption as it hosts Lee on Tuesday, Oct. 4 a 6 p.m., inside The Complex. Following the match versus Lee, the Blazers have two more conference matchups over the weekend, traveling to Mississippi College on Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. ET in Clinton, Miss., and then at West Alabama on Oct. 8, at 3 p.m. ET in Livingston, Ala.  
 
The Blazers enter the week with a 7-12 record and a 1-5 mark in the Gulf South Conference. VSU is coming off a pair of losses; a 3-1 decision at Lee on Sept. 30 and a 3-0 loss to Shorter on Oct. 1.  
 
On the year, the Blazers are hitting .150 and have 722 kills, 143 aces, 1,038 digs and a conference-high 143 blocks. Sophomore Lyara Rosario leads the team in digs with 204 and also sits second nationally with 42 service aces. Sophomore Jojo Smith has a team-high 175 kills on the year along with a .114 attacking percentage while graduate Mallory Roney has 153 kills on the year and is hitting .249. At the net, sophomore Christina Pettigrew has a league-high 74 blocks along with 27 digs and 102 kills. Freshman Ava Young has 69 kills along with a .197 attack percentage, 23 digs and 53 blocks.  
 
The Flames enter the week with a 4-14 record and a 2-4 mark in the GSC. The team is coming off a 3-0 sweep over West Georgia on Oct. 1. The series between VSU and Lee is tied 8-8 while VSU has a 5-2 advantage over the Flames in Valdosta and Lee has a 6-2 advantage over the Blazers in Cleveland.  
 
The Flames have 663 kills on the year and a .123 attacking percentage. Lee also has recorded 79 aces, 844 digs and 134 blocks as Abby Stroh has a team-high 167 kills on the year along with a team-high 168 digs on defense and 19 service aces and Scottie Cook has 35 blocks at the net.  
 
For the Choctaws, MC is coming off a 3-1 loss to Union on Oct. 1. The Choctaws enter the week with a 14-2 record and a 4-2 mark in league action and will face off against West Alabama on Oct. 4 before the match with VSU. MC is third overall in the GSC while the Blazers have a 12-0 advantage over the Choctaws dating back to the 2014 season.  
 
The team has recorded 724 kills, 131 aces, 724 digs and 116 blocks on the season. Caroline Chastang leads the team with 178 kills while Missy Beber has a team-high 186 digs on defense and Julia Sumrall has a team-high 52 blocks at the net.  
 
West Alabama will face off against the Choctaws and West Georgia before welcoming the Blazers to Livingston. The Tigers enter the week with a 5-13 record and a 0-6 mark in the GSC and are coming off a 3-2 loss to Christian Brothers on Sept. 29.  
 
The Tigers are hitting .104 on the year and have recorded 585 kills, 812 digs, 124 blocks, and 139 aces. Individually, Madison Fisher leads the team with 128 kills while MacKenzie Wells has a team-high 249 digs on defense as well as 35 service aces and Amelia Johnigan has a team-high 37 blocks.  
 
Following this week's slate of games, the Blazers will play in the GSC/SSC Regional Crossover in Hoover, Ala. at the Finley Center on Oct 14-15. 
 

Women's Soccer 

The Blazer women's soccer team (3-5-1, 2-4 GSC) finishes out its four-match home stand with No. 21-ranked Mississippi College on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the VSU Soccer Complex.  The match originally was scheduled for last Friday, but moved to Tuesday due to the threat of Hurricane Ian last week.

The Blazers are coming off a pair of losses to Lee (5-1) and Delta State (5-2) over the last two Sundays.  This past Sunday, VSU raced out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first half over the Lady Statesmen, but three-straight goals over a span of 9:21 in the first half gave DSU a 3-2 lead at intermission.  The Lady Statesmen added two more goals in the second half for the 5-2 victory as Rylee McGee scored a hat trick in the game for DSU and Jae'lasha Julien added two scores.  For the Blazers, sophomore Anseley Decenzo scored the first goal off an assist from senior Amber Saunders, while freshman Victoria Bahr continued her strong initial campaign as a Blazer with her team-leading fourth goal of the season off an assist from sophomore Taylor Morris.  VSU held a 12-9 lead in shots and both teams finished with eight shots on target.  

This season, the Blazers are led by Bahr who has four goals and eight points on 15 shots with eight on frame.  Sophomore Molly Wooldridge is second in scoring with six points on three goals.  She has 13 shots and five on target as both Bahr and Wooldridge each have one game winner.  Morris and Saunders are third in scoring with five points each.  Morris has one goal and tied for the team-lead in assists with three, while Saunders has two scores and one assist. 

VSU enters looking for its 100^th victory in program history as the Blazers are 99-78-25 all-time since the program's inception in 2011 and is 68-41-17 all-time in GSC play.  Sixth year head coach Stephen Andrew also is looking for his 50^th victory as he is 49-34-7 at the helm of the Blazers for the winningest coach in program history.  Andrew also is 39-20-5 in GSC play during his tenure in Titletown.  Overall for his 16-year career, Andrew is 189-89-16 at VSU, Piedmont College and Huntingdon College.
 
Mississippi College enters with an 8-2 record overall and a 5-1 mark in the GSC as the Choctaws have won four-straight matches, including a 2-1 win at West Georgia on Sunday as Beatrice Currie scored the eventual game winner in the 57^thminute.  
For the season, MC's Erin Hederman leads the team with nine goals and three assists for 21 points.  She has 30 shots (.300) and 21 on target (.700) with three game winners this season.   Curry is second with eight goals and three assists for 19 points.  She has fired 25 shots (.320) and 17 on frame (.680) with one game winner.  Avery Hederman leads the team with eight assists on the year.  

In goal, three different Choctaws have played with Sara Maleski starting seven contests with a 6-1-0 record and four shutouts. She has a 1.09 goals against average with 15 saves in 578:54 minutes.  Anna Wes Driskell has played in four matches with a 2-1 record and one shutout for a 1.19 goals against average with ten saves. 
 
MC has recorded 33 goals and allowed 13 this season, while it has 184 shots (.179) with 109 on goal for a .592 clip.  Conversely, teams have 91 shots (.143) with 38 on target (.418).  MC has 28 assists for the season and is 2 of 2 in penalty kicks. 
 
Nationally speaking, MC is second nationally in assists per game at a 2.89 clip, while it is third in points per game 9.78, fourth in scoring offense (3.44), second in shots on goal per game (11.44), third in total assists (28), fourth in total goals (33) and fourth in total points (94).  Individually, E. Hederman is ninth in goals scored (9), while she is eighth in points (21), while teammate A. Hederman is seventh nationally in total assists (8) to lead the league.  
 
The Choctaws lead the all-time series 6-0-1 and have won six-straight since an opening 1-1 tie in Valdosta in 2014.  Last season, MC won 4-1 in Clinton, Miss., while the Choctaws won a 1-0 heartbreaker in Valdosta in double overtime in 2019.    

Union enters with a 3-8 record overall and a 2-6 mark in the GSC.  The Lady Bulldogs dropped a 1-0 decision at Alabama Huntsville and a 2-1 loss at West Alabama last week.  Madison Woolridge leads the team with five points on two goals and one assist this season.  She has three shots on target and one game winner.  Shaylynn Bentley has four points for the season with one goal and two assists, along with eight shots and five on frame.  She also has one game winner, while Holly Trisdale has two goals for the year with nine shots and five on target.  Ines Gama leads the team with 16 total shots and nine on frame.

In goal, Rylee Iorio is 2-8 on the year in 810 minutes of action, allowing 13 goals (1.44 GAA), 61 saves and two shutouts.  Kirsten La'Vallee has started one match with three saves, one shutout and is 1-0 on the year.

VSU leads the all-time series with Union, 6-1-2 and has won the last four meetings in the series.  The Blazers are 3-1 all-time in Jackson, Tenn., and defeated the Lady Bulldogs 6-0 there on Nov. 3, 2019.  VSU is 4-0-1 against Union in the last five meetings and has outscored the Lady Bulldogs 23-8 in the nine meetings overall.  Union's lone win in the series came in Jackson, Tenn., on Oct. 17, 2015, with a 2-1 victory.  VSU led 1-0 just 6:30 into the contest, but Union scored two goals in a matter of 48 seconds beginning with the first score at the 88:40 mark into the match and the second at the 89:28 mark.

The Buccaneers of Christian Brothers are 7-4-1 overall and 4-3-1 in league play, as they host West Georgia on Friday, before entertaining the Blazers on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.  CBU won 2-0 at Alabama Huntsville its last time out, snapping a two-match skid with losses at home to West Florida (7-0) and at West Alabama (2-1). 

Leading the way for CBU this season is Cheyenne Smith who has a blistering 13 goals through ten matches with two assists for 28 points.  She has 42 shots for the season (.310) and 29 on target (.690) with four game winners.  Julia Valentin is second in scoring with 11 points on five goals with one assist, while Maria Cancio leads the team with six assists. 
Between the posts, Chloe Hillyer has started all 12 matches with a 1.45 goals against average, allowing 17 goals with 35 saves and has a 7-4-1 record with three shutouts.  Kylea Heath has played in two matches for 28 minutes.  

Nationally speaking, CBU is 21^st in scoring offense at 2.58 goals per game for third in the league, while the team is 26^th in total assists (19), 11^th in goal goals (31) and 14^th in total points (81).  Individually, Smith is fourth nationally in goals (13), while she is fourth in total points (28).  Concio is eighth nationally in total assists (6).  Smith's .690 shots on goal percentage is 18^thnationally, while her 4.20 shots per game puts her 16^th nationally and her four game winners is good for fifth in D2.  
 

CROSS COUNTRY
 
Florida State Invitational – Oct. 7, 2022, Men's Race at 7:40 a.m. / Women's Race at 8:15 a.m.

 
The Valdosta State men's and women's cross country teams are set to race in the FSU Invitational in Tallahassee, Fla., on Oct. 7, at Apalachee Regional Park. The men's race is set to begin at 7:40 a.m. while the women's race is slated to begin at 8:15 a.m.  
 
The race will feature 24 men's teams and 27 women's teams across NAIA to NCAA D1 teams. Participants include Bethune-Cookman, Daytona State College, Eastern Florida, Embry-Riddle, Flagler, Indiana Wesleyan, Jacksonville, Jacksonville St., Lake Sumter State College, Life University, LSU, Miami, Mobile, Palm Beach Atlantic, Saint Leo, Southeastern, Southern Wesleyan, Stetson, Tampa, The Master's, Thomas, West Florida, William Carey, Florida A&M, Florida Gateway College, Florida State, and North Georgia.  
 
Last year, the Blazers took 17^th overall at the FSU Invite while the women's team took 25^th overall. Senior Logan Kraus was the top VSU finisher in the race with a time of 26:30.4 while senior Brishen House was the second VSU finisher with a time of 26:39.3. For the women, sophomore Caitlyn Koske, the only returner from last season's race, finished with a time of 28:42.7. 
 
The Blazers are coming off the Queen City Invitational in Charlotte, N.C. There, the men's team placed fifth overall, while the women took home 13^th overall. The Blazers featured five personal-record times, senior Logan Kraus, junior Braedon Bensley, freshman River Livingston, junior Katie LaCroix and sophomore Kyleigh Rice.  
 
Krause was the top Blazer finisher in the race, 17^th overall, with a time of 25:43.0 while LaCroix was the top finisher in the women's race with a time of 20:02.  
 
Following the FSU Invite, the Blazers will race in the UAB XC Invite in Montevallo, Ala., on Oct. 14.  
 
 
FOOTBALL
vs. West Alabama – Saturday, Oct. 8, 7 p.m., Valdosta, Ga. / Bazemore-Hyder Stadium
Cancer Awareness Game – All fans encouraged to wear pink to the game