VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Auburn University at Montgomery volleyball team had a perfect start to Group B play in the Gulf South Conference Spring Championship series with a 3-2 win over West Georgia and a 3-0 sweep over Valdosta State.
AUM moves into first place with two victories on Saturday and improves their record to 3-0 overall this season.
Newcomer
Mariane Cassiano had two brilliant matches in Valdosta. In game one, she recorded a team-high 13 kills.
Nyah Whittlesey (12) and
Ashley Hudson (11) also eclipsed 10 kills in the winning effort over West Georgia.
Isadora Nicolai, meanwhile, posted a 52-assist performance in the win, marking the second-straight 50-assist match for the Brazil native to start the season.
The Warhawks stormed out to an early lead in the first set, earning nine of the first 10 points of the opening game. AUM was benefited by the serving of outside hitter
Carla Butler, who proved to be valuable in the serving department to start the match.
West Georgia went on a run in the middle stages of the first set to make the game interesting, tying the game at 14. AUM and UWG would go back-and-forth for a while in the first set before the Warhawks finished on a 5-0 run to win the first game 25-20.
The Wolves were able to flip the script on the Warhawks to begin the second set, as West Georgia found themselves up 11-4 early. AUM clawed back into the match with a kill from
Giada Pais-Marden to cut the lead to six, but the Wolves came away with a commanding 25-15 win in game two.
In game three, AUM came back from down 7-9 to take a 14-10 lead after a kill from
Maria Nicolau. West Georgia would attempt to cut into the Warhawk lead, but AUM would not relinquish their advantage and won game three 25-18.
The first 20 points of the fourth game were split evenly between the two sides. West Georgia finally found a lead late in the action with a 17-13 advantage over AUM. The Warhawks, however, were unable to catch up and fell 25-18 to force a deciding fifth set.
The Warhawks got exactly what they needed to rebound in the final set of the match. A Butler ace coupled with offensive mistakes from the Wolves gave the Warhawks a 7-3 lead. West Georgia cut the lead down to two a handful of times in the fifth set, but AUM did not give up their lead and won the set 15-11 and the match 3-2.
The second match for AUM featured a one-two punch offensively from Cassiano and Whittlesey, who both finished with over 10 kills once again. Nicolai had her 50-plus assist streak snapped, with a 34-assist performance in the 3-0 win over Valdosta State.
AUM was able to climb to a 5-2 lead early in the first set before the Lady Blazers tied the game at five. Thanks to a
Kyla Ffrench kill, the Warhawks were able to open a lead to 11-6 in the middle stages of the first set.
Late pushes from Valdosta State tied the game at 17 and again at 19, but a back and forth battle between the two teams needed extra points to decide the first game. With the set tied at 24, Nicolau and Cassiano converted on kills to give AUM the win.
Valdosta State was able to find their groove offensively in the second set, jumping out to an early 9-5 lead. A 5-1 run tied the game at 10 for AUM after a service ace from Nicolai, the program's all-time leader.
Neither side was able to jump out to a big lead in the second set. With the game tied at 20, the Warhawks took five of the next eight points to win the second set 25-23 to give AUM a 2-0 advantage in the match.
The Warhawks used a late offensive surge to put away the Lady Blazers in the third set. Early in the third, the game was tied at 11, but errors from Valdosta State allowed AUM to take an advantage that they would not give up, winning the third set 25-19 and the match 3-0.
AUM will continue Group B play on Thursday, March 11, when they travel to rival Montevallo to face the Falcons at 7 p.m.
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