AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Jaguar Volleyball program capped a season of rebuilding on Saturday, Nov. 16 in a 3-1 non-conference loss at Anderson.
GRU Augusta (8-25, 2-16 PNC) will miss the Peach Belt Conference Tournament starting on Friday, Nov. 22 for the first time in over five years. At the 2012 PBC Tournament, the Jags defeated Montevallo 3-1 before falling to Armstrong 3-0 in the semifinals.
In a rebuilding season with a young roster, GRU still found positives throughout the season. Junior Kristen Koch led the entire PBC with 406 kills (3.50 per set) and was third with 437.5 points. Freshman Catherine DeSilvester ranked fifth with 486 digs in her debut season and junior-transfer Chandler Mass' 8.46 assists per set ranked her 7th overall. Senior Jenna Keeler was named to the PBC Preseason All-Conference team on August 20, 2013 and her 33 matches played were eighth best in the league and her 114 sets were good for 10th.
The Jags lost six student-athletes after the 2012 season, including three starting seniors. Head Coach Sharon Bonaventure brought in five freshmen and one transfer for the 2013 campaign. New to the program as well was Assistant Coach Faith Steinwedell who joined the squad in early August as Bonaventure's top aide on the team.
GRU earned their first win of 2013 beating Pfeiffer 3-1 on Saturday, Sept. 14. Six matches later, the Jags shutout Limestone at home and on Oct. 5 they got their first road win by beating Fayetteville State 3-0. At the Pepsi Bash at the Beach Tournament, hosted by Palm Beach Atlantic in West Palm Beach, Fla., GRU went 2-1 – winning back-to-back matches over Stonehill (3-1) and Claflin (3-0).
Three days after, the Jags won their fourth match of the last six in a 3-0 shutout over Georgia College for DIG PINK night. The Jaguars wore their alternative pink jerseys and helped raise $700 for breast cancer awareness and research. Another non-conference win was enjoyed on Oct. 26 when GRU blanked Converse 3-0 and on Wednesday, Nov. 13, the Jags beat GC again for another PBC victory.
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