VALDOSTA, Ga.- The Valdosta State volleyball team (15-9, 9-5 GSC) will look to rebound from its Tuesday loss to West Florida when it hosts Montevallo and Alabama Huntsville in a pair of key matchups this weekend at The Complex. The Blazers will first take on Montevallo on Friday at 6 p.m. before squaring off with the UAH Chargers on Saturday for the first of two Senior Nights at 7 p.m.
 
All the Blazer volleyball action will be available on vstateblazers.com where links can be found for live stats and streaming. Video streaming is offered through FloSports with a paid subscription. For more information on how to subscribe and watch nearly every Valdosta State athletic event, see here. Also, Blazer fans that attend Saturday's 3 p.m. football game against Chowan can use their football ticket to attend the volleyball match against UAH on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
 
The Blazers are coming off their first loss after a perfect 5-0 week, dropping a hard-fought, three-set loss to West Florida at The Complex on Tuesday night. In that contest, the Blazers put up a fight in both the first and third sets, coming up short by four points in the first set and two points in the third set. Senior Jojo Smith led the offensive charge for VSU with nine kills while redshirt-freshman Avery Mullins set up 17 assists. Defensively, junior Ava Young tallied three total blocks while senior libero Kaia Baker kept points alive with 13 digs.
 
Senior Christina Pettigrew was also announced as the Gulf South Conference Defensive Player of the Week by the league office on Tuesday afternoon. Pettigrew was a problem for opposing offenses last week, leading the Blazers in total blocks with 19 rejections including five solo blocks for 0.95 blocks per set. During the five-set victory against Christian Brothers on Sunday, Pettigrew recorded her 500th career block, reaching both 1000 kills and 500 blocks within a nine-day period. The Copperas Cove, Tex. native also notched 20 digs and four assists while hitting a team-best .384 on 63 kills and eight service aces for 83 total points.
 
For the season, the collective trio of seniors Jojo Smith, Christina Pettigrew and Mackenzie Murray have led the Blazer offensive attack with Smith in front of the pack at 252 kills on the year. Meanwhile, Murray trails just behind Smith with 241 kills while Pettigrew has tallied 229 kills this season. Pettigrew leads the charge for the Blazer defense at the net with a team-high 61 blocks this season, including 26 solo blocks while junior Katie Callenberger recently passed 50 blocks on the year with 53 total. The duo of setters in senior Audrey Bennett (580 assists) and Avery Mullins (304 assists) have combined for 884 assists, keeping the VSU offense rolling. Kaia Baker has kept points alive for the Blazers, sitting at first in the GSC in digs with 437 while also ranking first in digs per set at 4.97 a frame.
 
Montevallo enters The Complex with a 9-15 overall record with a 6-8 mark in league play. The Falcons most recently fell to Mississippi College on Tuesday night, 3-0. UM is under the direction of Haven O' Quinn, who is 22-33 in her second season as head coach of the Falcons. Montevallo holds the edge in the matchup history with Valdosta State since 2017, 9-2. The Falcons currently hold a 4-0 match run against the Blazers, most recently defeating VSU in Montevallo in a gritty five-setter on October 5.
 
Individually, the Falcons are led on offense by Nikol Antova who currently sits at 301 kills on the year for second in the GSC. Meanwhile, the UM offense runs through setter Colton Thompson runs with 428 assists while Ava Wind is notching a team-high 32 aces. Defensively, Danielle Greene leads Montevallo with 96 blocks on the year including 17 solo rejections for third best in the GSC.
 
Alabama Huntsville enters Saturday's match at second in the Gulf South Conference with a 12-2 conference record while sitting at 21-3 overall. The Chargers are currently riding a three-game win streak, most recently defeating West Alabama in Livingston on Tuesday, 3-0. UAH is led by head coach Jon Moseley who is 83-41 in his fifth season at the helm of the Chargers' program. In matchup history since 1995, Alabama Huntsville holds a narrow 30-25 advantage over Valdosta State with the Blazers most recently claiming a 3-1 victory in Huntsville earlier this season on October 4.
 
This season, the Chargers can accredit a majority of their success to outstanding defensive play. UAH currently sits at first in the nation in team total blocks with 237 on the year while opponents hit just .134 on average against the Chargers, ranking top 20 in the nation for the category. Leading the charge for Alabama Huntsville are Autumn Mayes and Mary Grace Bundrant., Mayes currently leads the team in kills with 259 on the season while also bolstering 30 service aces. Meanwhile, Bundrant leads the UAH defense with 101 total blocks on the year for second in the conference while recording 29 solo rejections.
 
Following this weekend's matches, the Blazer volleyball team will hit the road for the last time in the regular season, heading west to take on West Alabama and Mississippi College next weekend. For more information on those matches, be sure to stay tuned to vstateblazers.com.