Nov. 15, 2007

Kirksville, Mo. - For the second year in a row, the Jennies from Central Missouri State ended the Argonauts season. Interestingly, West Florida was the higher seed (3rd) than Central Missouri (6th), despite the fact that the Jennies were ranked higher nationally. The Argos received outstanding performances from Seniors Danielle Spitzer and Isabela Gualberto, as the two played their final match in an Argonaut uniform.

Gualberto led the team with 20 kills, while Spitzer was extremely productive with 17 kills in her 32 attack attempts for a .439 hitting percentage. The Gulf South Conference East Division Player of the Year, Luciana Rapach, also turned in a nice performance with 19 kills and 25 digs. Meanwhile, the Jennies' Amber Yoder led all players with 21 kills.

The Argonauts battled with the Jennies all match long. In the first game, the Argonauts kept the game close; however, with it tied 8-8, the Jennies began to gain momentum from that point on, and never lost control. Central Missouri would take a five point lead twice in the opening game before putting away West Florida 30-27.

The Argonauts turned the tables and won game two by the same 30-27 score, with Spitzer and Gualberto scoring repeatedly with kills. The third and pivotal game, could have gone either way, as the game was close throughout, but the Jennies scored the key points down the stretch to win 30-25. Kimberly Clark had a couple strong kills to pull the Argos close, but each time, Yoder and Brooke Butler (16 kills), had an answer for Central Missouri.

The Jennies led almost entirely in game four, starting with an 11-4 lead. West Florida would battle back and eventually tied the game at 15. The Jennies would attempt to break away again, by scoring four consecutive points. Once again West Florida continued to battle back, tying the game at 23, as Louann Rusch had two kills in the run. However, Central Missouri countered with four consecutive points, and the Argos trailed 28-24. One last gasp by the Argos closed it to 28-27, but the Jennies scored the final two points to win the match and move on. Central Missouri controlled the entire pace of the match, leaving West Florida confused and frustrated. The Argonauts opened only one game by getting the first point and several times found themselves down by five or more.

Junior Libero Jerica Carter, the Argonauts career dig leader tied for a game high 25 digs in the match, while setter Madeline Gonzalez had 65 assists, which increased her Argonaut single season record to 1,627. Freshmen Robin Law added four kills and four digs, while Freshman Chelsea Wilhoite helped with four kills and three digs.

West Florida drops to 32-7 on the season, while Central Missouri improved to 31-6, and awaits the winner of the West Georgia vs. Washburn match today, and they will play the round two match tomorrow. The season ends for West Florida, despite a tremendous year, as the team won over 30 matches for the first time in UWF history, and completed the regular season conference schedule at an unblemished 12-0. The team set records for number of games played, total kills, total attacks, total assists, and total blocks.

"I think it was a fantastic season for us," said Head Coach Melissa Wolter. "We had a lot of firsts, and for having nine new players we did a lot of amazing things. In the grand scheme of things, the field of teams that are here this weekend, are much deeper then last year's teams," said Wolter. "Any of the top seven could have won it, and any still can, so I am anxious to see how the rest of the matches play out."

"We still lack confidence in the post season," said Wolter. "This is our first year that we expected to be here, and success will come, it will just take time. Today, Central Missouri did the right things. They just didn't let us score. They allowed us to side out, but we never put any runs together. They knew what we were going to do, before we did it. They got us scrambling and playing a tempo we are not used to.

"We tried everything we could. We ran our entire bench out, tried all types of different combinations, there was really nothing else we could have done, we just needed to play our `A' game today, and we didn't."

For Seniors Sarah Harrison, Gualberto, and Spitzer, it marked the end of their fabulous West Florida careers, and they will forever be a part of many firsts' in Argonaut history. Harrison and Spitzer both averaged more than one block per game this season, and Spitzer is third all-time with 249 career blocks. Gualberto will play only this one season, but will be in the record books with the second best season ever by an Argonaut with a .322 Attack Percentage. Happy trails to the seniors, while the underclassmen will set even greater goals for next year.