VALDOSTA, Ga. – Trailing 2-0, the Valdosta State volleyball team dug deep and battled back for force a decisive fifth set against visiting Auburn Montgomery on Thursday evening at The Complex and came away with a 15-12 victory in the fifth to keep its Gulf South Conference Tournament berth hopes alive.
AUM won the first two sets 25-19 and 25-12, before the Blazers responded with a 25-23 victory in the third and a 25-21 win in the fourth to force a decisive fifth set. VSU closed the match scoring four of the final five points for the 15-12 victory in the fifth. VSU improved to 13-18 overall and 7-8 in Gulf South Conference play, while AUM fell to 15-16 overall and 8-7 in league play.
For the match, VSU had 52 kills in 162 swings for a .191 average, while recording 48 assists and 64 digs. The Blazers had 11 total blocks with eight solo rejections and seven aces. AUM finished with 64 kills in 169 swings for a .243 average, while recording 56 assists, 78 digs and eight total blocks with six solo.
Blazer sophomore Mackenzie Murray finished with 17 kills and hit .244 for the match, along with four digs and one block assist leading four players with double-digit kills. Sophomore Jojo Smith had 11 kills, five digs and two solo blocks, while graduate student Mallory Roney had ten kills, 11 digs, three solo blocks and two aces to earn Guardian Bank Blazer Player of the Match.
For the Warhawks, Alessia Cappai finished with a match-high 19 kills and 16 digs, along with three solo blocks and one assisted block. Ylenia De Mango added 18 kills and three solo blocks and Kendall McCain finished with 11 kills and eight digs. Reann Cato had a match-high 18 digs.
The Blazers close out the 2022 regular season Friday at 6 p.m., versus rival West Georgia in The Complex. The match with the Wolves is part of the Red Clay Rivalry Series as UWG holds a 2.5-0 lead in the series this year with wins so far in volleyball (0.5 points), football (1 point) and women's soccer (1 point). Men's and women's cross country will compete against each other this weekend in the GSC Championships at Montevallo. The team who finishes higher in each race will earn a point in the rivalry series for their respective sport.
VSU is still in contention to earn a berth in the Gulf South Conference Tournament depending on the outcomes across the league both tonight and Friday. VSU also has a chance to host a first round GSC Championship playoff match, which would be scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m., in The Complex. Check back with vstateblazers.com for further updates following Friday's match on the conference tournament field.
Auburn Montgomery 25, Valdosta State 19 (Set One)
An emphatic block from sophomores Christina Pettigrew and Audrey Bennett tied the first set a 4-4 as the teams began the match trading points. AUM scored five of the next six points for a 9-5 lead and a Blazer timeout. Out of the break, the Warhawks stretched their lead to 13-6 and another timeout by VSU. Murray registered her second kill of the match to stop the bleeding for a 13-7 deficit. AUM answered with three-straight points, but a kill from Smith pulled VSU within 16-8. Pettigrew came up with a solo block for a 19-10 deficit and Bennett tallied a kill for a 20-11 score. Two attack errors and a solo block from Roney pulled VSU within 23-16 late in the set and forced a timeout by AUM. Sophomore Lyara Rosario came up with her 62nd ace of the season for a 24-18 lead and then another error on the Warhawks extended the Blazer rally for a 24-19 deficit. De Mango ended the first set with a kill for a 25-19 score.
For the first set, VSU hit .129 with eight kills in 31 swings, while committing four attack errors. AUM had 18 kills in 39 swings for a .282 average and seven attack miscues. Murray led the way with three kills for the Blazers in the opening set, while Cappai had five kills for AUM and a trio of Warhawks had four kills each. VSU had four total blocks in the set with two solo rejections.
Auburn Montgomery 25, Valdosta State 12 (Set Two)
The Warhawks raced out to a 6-1 lead in the second set courtesy of three kills and three miscues by the Blazers and a VSU timeout. Out of the stoppage, AUM scored two more points, before Smith recorded a kill for an 8-2 deficit. Three errors on the Warhawks pulled VSU within 10-6, but AUM had the answer, stretching the lead to 13-6 with kills from De Mango and Cappai, along with an ace leading to a VSU timeout. A pair of blocks by the Blazers pulled the red and black within 18-11 later in the set, but a pair of errors stymied the momentum for a 20-11 AUM lead. AUM closed the set on a 7-1 run for a 25-12 victory and a 2-0 lead.
For the second set, VSU hit -.037 with four kills in 27 swings, while AUM hit .333 with 13 kills in 24 attempts. VSU had five attack errors, two service errors and two ball handling errors, while recording five blocks for the set. Through the two sets, Murray had four kills, while Smith had three for the Blazers. De Mango had nine kills for AUM and Cappai had eight.
Valdosta State 25, Auburn Montgomery 23 (Set Three)
The Blazers opened the third set scoring three of the first five points for the first lead of the match for VSU and the beginning of a very competitive, back-and-forth set. An error on the Blazers then tied the set at 4-4. An ace by Pettigrew broke a 7-7 tie and a timeout by AUM with VSU leading 8-7. Kills from Young and Murray gave VSU an 11-9 lead for the largest lead of the match for the Blazers. The Blazers would build a two-point lead and AUM would respond with two points to tie. Smith broke a 15-15 tie with a kill for her seventh of the match and the ninth lead change of the set as VSU built an 18-15 lead. AUM responded with three-straight points to the set at 18 and a timeout by the Blazers. It was the seventh tie of the set. Following the tenth lead change and the eighth tie, AUM's Kendall McCain registered a kill for a 20-19 Warhawk lead, followed by an error on the Blazers. Murray registered her ninth kill of the match, pulling VSU within 22-20. An error by the Warhawks followed by Murray's tenth kill tied the set at 22-22. McCain scored a kill for AUM, but the Blazers responded with another kill from Murray to tie the set, once again. Smith recorded a kill for a 24-23 VSU lead and a timeout by the Warhawks. Out of the break, VSU won the set with a kill from Roney for a 25-23 victory sending the match to a fourth set.
VSU hit .318 for the third set with 19 kills on 44 swings with five attack errors, while AUM had 14 kills in 45 swings for a .244 clip and just three attack errors. Murray had 11 kills for the match to that point, while Smith had eight. For the Warhawks, Cappai led the way with 13 kills and De Mango added 11, while Giulia Santuari had nine and McCain recorded eight.
Valdosta State 25, Auburn Montgomery 21 (Set Four)
Neither team gained much of an advantage early in the fourth set as the teams basically traded points. AUM led 13-11, but Roney came up with a stuff and a 13-12 deficit. Cappai then recorded her match-leading 16th kill for a 14-12 score. Bennett added another block pulling VSU within 14-13 and a timeout by the Warhawks. Out of the timeout, VSU tied the set with another rejection from the duo of Bennett and Pettigrew at 14-14. Roney put VSU in front 18-16 and then 19-17 with her ninth and tenth kills of the match. An ace from Rosario followed for a 20-17 Blazer lead for her second ace of the match and timeout by AUM. Rosario posted another ace for a 21-17 lead out of the break for the largest lead of the set for the Blazers. A pair of kills from Pettigrew gave VSU a 25-21 victory to force the decisive fifth set.
The Blazers had 12 kills in 39 swings for a .205 average in the fourth set, while AUM had 12 kills in 37 swings. For the match, VSU hit .177 through four sets with 43 kills in 141 attacks, while AUM hit .255 with 57 kills in 145 swings. AUM had 20 attack errors, while VSU had 18. Murray led the way with 14 kills for the Blazers, while Cappai had 18 kills and 15 digs for AUM.
Valdosta State 15, Auburn Montgomery 12 (Set Five)
AUM jumped out to a 5-2 lead capped with a block from Cappai and De Mango and a timeout by the Blazers. De Mango came up with a solo block for a 6-3 lead, but VSU came right back with a kill from Pettigrew – her ninth of the match, pulling the Blazers within 6-4. VSU pulled within 9-7 on a kill from Murray, but a kill from De Mango pushed the AUM lead back to three at 10-7. Two kills from Smith pulled VSU within 10-9 and a Warhawk timeout. Out of the timeout, VSU tied the set with a kill from Pettigrew and a 10-10 score. The teams traded points for an 11-11 ledger and VSU took the upper hand with an ace from Roney. Smith followed with her second block of the match and a 13-11 lead. Pettigrew, out of the final timeout by the Warhawks, came up big once again with a block and a 14-11 score. De Mango kept AUM alive with a kill for a 14-12 Blazer lead, but the home team wouldn't be denied as a ball handling error ended the match, 15-12.
