Pensacola, Fla. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) volleyball began play at the University of West Florida (UWF) Invitational with a 3-0 loss against the host and 11
th ranked Argonauts this afternoon. The Badgers lost the match by scores of 17-25, 13-25, and 18-25.
The University of West Florida controlled match play by dominating at the nets against the Badger offensive attack. The Argonaut front lined simply proved too much for the Badger attackers to overcome as UWF came up with 23 blocks and forced SHC into 23 attack errors. UWF connected for a healthy .343 attack percentage while holding the Badger front line to a paltry .030 attack percentage. The SHC back row worked hard to keep the Badgers in the contest with 48 digs but UWF's front line was just too much to overcome.
Individually for the Badgers,
Emmarose Neibert handed out 21 assists and
Payton Gidney hammered out 8 kills and connected for a .316 attack percentage. Cassidy Sterrett once again led the Badger back row coming up with 17 digs in the match followed by Gidney with 10.
"I thought we played tentatively and were a bit intimidated by the big block," said Coach
Peggy Martin. "After some adjustments I thought we played up to their level at points but not consistently enough.
Taylor Hurst came off the bench and did a nice job on the outside and
Payton Gidney was solid offensively. This was a good test for us against a top 25 opponent and we see where we need to improve."
The Badgers (3-2, 0-0 SIAC) will continue play in Pensacola this evening when they take on former Southern States Athletic Conference rival Lee University at 4:30 p.m. Spring Hill will face Harding University on Saturday, September 8 at 10:00 a.m. to conclude the weekend.
