Nov. 10, 2007
SEARCY, Ark. - The West Florida Volleyball team held off a tough Henderson State team by a 30-28, 30-24, 30-23 score, to move into the championship match on Saturday. The Semifinal win at Noon today, set up a chance to play for the championship tonight at 7:30 pm. Senior Middle Hitter Isabela Gualberto stepped up big today, and hit an outstanding .739 (18 kills in 23 attempts) to carry the Argonauts into the conference finals.
Coach Melissa Wolter was impressed with the performance, "It was the 'Bela' show today, she had a big impact on the match, and she ended up as our go-to person today." Coach Wolter was proud of her team moving into the conference final. "We were fortunate to win, Henderson State is an outstanding team, and they are a great blocking team, so we had to mix it up well. Madi (setter Madeline Gonzalez) did a great job today. She understands who to go to, and she did a great job today recognizing when to go to who." Gonzalez ended the match with 54 assists, an average of 18 per game.
All purpose player, and East Division Player of the Year, Luciana Rapach, recorded a season high six aces in the match. "We made some changes to her serve this week," commented Coach Wolter, "and she responded with some great serves. She was just fantastic all the way around." Rapach ended with 14 kills, 12 digs, and three assists to go with her service aces.
Junior Kimberly Clark helped the Argos get off to a hot start with five kills in the first game, and ended the night with 14 kills and 10 digs. Gonzalez and Jerica Carter each chipped in with 12 digs, as the Argonaut defense somewhat neutralized the West Division Player of the year Edith Musebe. The middle hitter for the Lady Reddies, is among the national leaders in kills and blocks, and she turned in another solid performance with 19 kills and six blocks.
Game one was close throughout, and tied at 23 and 26, until Rapach finally put away a kill to win the match at 30-28. In the second game, the Lady Reddies got out to a 12-8 lead, but the Argos responded as Gualberto started to heat up, and she put down eight kills in the second game alone. With the score tied at 20, Henderson State hit a service error, followed by a Rapach ace, and then West Florida rode the momentum to pull away, and win game two 30-24. West Florida controlled game three, as the Lady Reddies made a couple runs, but each time West Florida responded with a big kill from Gualberto, Rapach, or Clark. Meanwhile, Danielle Spitzer was in on two important blocks to push the Argos to the 30-23 third game win.
The victory improved West Florida to 32-5 on the season, while Henderson State dropped to 22-10. The Argonauts await the winner of the 2:30 Semifinal match between West Georgia and North Alabama. West Florida has defeated each team twice this season. Coach Wolter sized up the final, "It is hard to beat a good team three times. North Alabama is peaking and they played an outstanding match yesterday, and West Georgia is also playing very well." West Florida defeated West Georgia both times by 3-2 scores, in come from behind wins. Meanwhile, the Argos defeated North Alabama twice this season, after losing the previous 12 matches against the Lions. This years' West Florida team has already recorded many firsts this season, and hope to capture their first GSC Tournament Championship. "We are surpassing what we have done before, and our team is committed to winning it (GSC) all, but it will be a lot of work tonight," claimed Coach Wolter.
