VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State volleyball team closed out the 2022 regular season with a 3-0 sweep of visiting West Georgia Friday evening at The Complex.  VSU won the opening set 25-22, followed by a 25-20 victory and then rattled off a 10-0 run late in the third set for a 25-16 victory.  VSU closed the regular season winning six of its final seven matches and improved to 14-18 overall and 8-8 in Gulf South Conference play.  UWG finished the season 12-20 overall and 4-12 in league play.
 
The Blazers now will await to see who and where they will play in the opening round of the Gulf South Conference Championship Monday evening.  Check back with vstateblazers.com for the complete tournament bracket once it is announced.
 
With the victory, VSU split the season series with UWG and snapped a six-game skid to the Wolves, dating back to a 3-1 victory in Valdosta on Oct. 27, 2018.  VSU earned a half a point for the win Friday evening in the Red Clay Rivalry Series as UWG now leads 2.5-0.5 in the series this year.  UWG has wins this fall in football (one point) and women's soccer (one point), while the teams each earn a half a point for splitting the season series in volleyball.  Saturday is the Gulf South Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships in Montevallo, Ala.  Two points will be up for grabs (one for men's XC and one for women's XC) in the rivalry series to the institution who finishes higher in the final standings of the conference championship race.   
 
For Friday's match, the Blazers recorded 36 kills with 30 assists and 57 digs as the team hit .198 in 116 swings.  VSU recorded 11 total blocks with seven solo rejections, while UWG hit .067 with 30 kills in 120 swings.  The Wolves had 28 assists and 57 digs, along with five total blocks and one solo block.  
 
Sophomore Mackenzie Murray led the way with ten kills in 27 swings and hit .370 for the match, along with seven digs and one block assist.  Sophomore Jojo Smith added eight kills with two digs.  Graduate student Mallory Roney and sophomore Lyara Rosario had ten digs each, while freshman Ava Young led the way with three solo blocks.  Sophomore Christina Pettigrew was named the Guardian Bank Blazer Player of the Match as she finished with seven kills in 21 swings for a .286 average, along with four aces, four digs, two solo blocks and one assisted block.  UWG was led by eight kills from Caitlin Frazee in 17 swings and no errors as she hit .471, along with two digs and one block assist.
 
Valdosta State 25, West Georgia 22 (Set One)
The Blazers came out scoring four of the first five points in the opening set with kills from Roney (2), Pettigrew and Smith. Pettigrew continued her strong play from last night with a block for a 5-2 lead and then followed with another kill for a 7-4 advantage.  Roney then joined the block party for an 11-7 lead, after UWG had pulled within 8-7 moments earlier.  Kills from Murray and Smith forced UWG into a timeout with VSU leading 13-9.  UWG tied the set at 13 with an ace and two Blazer miscues and a Blazer timeout, as it was the first tie, since 1-1.  Just like following UWG's timeout and a 4-0 run by the Wolves, VSU responded in kind following its timeout with a 4-0 run and an 18-14 lead.  An emphatic kill from Murray gave VSU its largest lead of the set, to that point, at 20-15 and the second timeout by UWG.  Young recorded a kill for a 23-17 lead, but the Wolves cut the deficit in half followed by a timeout by the Blazers.  Out of the break, Roney tallied a kill for set point at 24-20.  The Wolves battled off two set points, but the Blazers used the third solo block of the set – this time from Young for a 25-22 victory.
 
VSU had 16 kills in 48 swings for a .229 average for the opening set, while UWG had 13 kills in 47 swings for a .149 clip.  The Blazers recorded five total blocks in the set to just one for UWG.  Smith a team-high five kills for the set, while Pettigrew added four kills.
 
Valdosta State 25, West Georgia 20 (Set Two)
The Blazers continued the momentum into the second set and built a 6-3 lead, highlighted by three kills and an ace.  From there, a kill and a block from sophomore Audrey Bennett, along with an ace from Pettigrew helped extend the Blazer lead to 10-5 and a timeout by UWG.   Three kills from Frazee pulled UWG within 15-13 followed by an ace for the Wolves.  Smith ended the run with a kill for her sixth of the match to that point.  Later, an ace from Pettigrew pushed the Blazer lead to 21-17 and a timeout by UWG.   Out of the timeout, Pettigrew served up another ace, an attack error on UWG and a Murray kill for a 24-19 lead.  Smith had a kill on set point for a 25-20 victory and a 2-0 lead.    
 
VSU hit .278 for the second set with 12 kills on 36 swings, while recording four aces and one block.  The Wolves hit .200 with 12 kills in 35 swings, three aces and one block.  Both Murray and Smith had seven kills each, while Roney had five kills in the match through two sets.  Frazee had six kills for the Wolves to lead the team.
 
Valdosta State 25, West Georgia 16 (Set Three)
UWG took its first lead of the match, breaking a 3-3 tie early in the third with three-straight miscues by the Blazers and a timeout.  VSU tied the set at eight on a bad set by the Wolves, but a service error gave the lead back to UWG at 9-8.  The teams traded points to 11-11, but UWG scored four of the next five points for a 15-12 lead and a timeout by VSU.  Out of the timeout, VSU scored three-straight points highlighted by a block and kill from Pettigrew for a 15-15 score, and then used a block assist from Murray and Pettigrew, along with an ace from sophomore Ramsey Marshall for a 17-15 lead.  The run continued to seven-straight, all serves by Marshall, with a miscue by UWG, kill from Roney and an ace from Marshall for a 20-15 lead.  Out of the timeout, VSU scored the next three points for a 10-0 run and a 23-15 lead.  Following a point from UWG to end the run, Bennett recorded a kill for match point and Pettigrew ended it with an ace.