AUGUSTA, Ga. – GRU Augusta fell to the No. 1 Armstrong Pirates in straight sets, before blanking Comverse 3-0 on Saturday afternoon in Christenberry Fieldhouse.
Armstrong (19-0, 11-0 PBC) proved why they are the only unbeaten team in the Peach Belt Conference, despite GRU (7-19, Augusta winning the first points of each set. After a 2-0 GRU lead, the Pirates evened things and went ahead on a couple of blocks at the net. GRU Head Coach Sharon Bonaventure called two timeouts to try and slow down Armstrong, but their relentless defense and ability to dig on all attacks gave them the edge for a 25-19 first-set win.
Jags junior Paige Tuttle gave GRU the first point of set two. The Pirates ended GRU's run to take a 9-5 advantage on a few Jaguar set errors. Armstrong never relinquished their lead as they won set two 25-13. The Jags took the opening two points of set three, but did not hold on. The Pirates answered with 14-7 advantage by the first timeout and won 25-13.
Armstrong outhit GRU .289 to -.029 and had 9.0 blocks to the Jags' 3.0. Koch paced the Jags again with 11 kills, Chandler Mass had 21assists and Maggie Darling dug 10 attacks.
In the non-conference match against Converse (4-20), GRU scored first and had to answer point-to-point with the Valkyries. A two-point lead was the largest by either team in set one up until the 21-18 mark when GRU scored three. The Valkyries responded to tie it at 24-all, but Koch's service ace and a CC attack error gave the Jags a 26-24 set-one win.
GRU dominated set two for a 25-13 win, as they never trailed in the second meeting with the Valkyries. In set three, Tuttle earned the opening kill and a Jenna Keeler attack put the Jags up 5-1. With a strong lead, Bonaventure went to her bench to switch things up and bring some new offensive looks from Hannah Grey and Samantha Rivera. GRU held off the Valkyries the 25-13 and outhit Converse .184 to .051. Koch and Keeler had 10 kills apiece, Mass gave 31 assists, and Catherine DeSilvester dug 13 shots.
The Jags play at Newberry in a non-conference affair on Saturday, Nov. 2 in Newberry, S.C.