AUGUSTA, Ga. – With postseason implications in the air, the GRU Augusta women's volleyball team beat the Montevallo Falcons 3-1 in a Peach Belt Conference match on Tuesday night in Christenberry Fieldhouse. The Jaguars gained their 21 st win of the year and sit third in the league, ahead of Montevallo in fourth.
With tightly-contested sets and a fourth set in overtime, the two Peach Belt conference foes left in all on the floor before the Jaguars took the 3-1 victory to maintain strong position in the league's hierarchy.
The Jags (21-7, 10-5 PBC) started hot, never trailing in the opening frame as Kristen Koch fired seven kills and the defense held the Falcons (17-9, 8-5) to a .091 hitting percentage while amassing five blocks.
They continued to fire away to begin set two, quickly opening a 7-1 lead – but the Falcons began battling back, eventually knotting things at 11 and keeping it tight as the set progressed. Finally, Kali Boatwright blasted a kill to the back corner, Paige Elliott dropped in her first service ace of the evening, and Maggie Darling tacked on a kill to open a margin the Jags kept in taking the set 25-21.
Montevallo returned the favor after the intermission. After staying knotted at 13 apiece, the Falcons used strong front-line defense to maintain a slight margin until 20-18, when a Rebekah Phelps kill and two Hannah Christie aces led to a closing 5-2 run to keep the visitors in the match with a 25-20 set three win.
The teams continued the struggle in a fourth frame that had 11 ties and three lead changes. An Alyssa Latham slam on the left line followed by Koch and Elliott's combo block opened a 21-18 lead, but the Falcons forced overtime on Rebekah Phelps' short tip at 25-all. After staving off three set points, Boatwright came in – and promptly fired an ace, then blasted a kill of a block to seal the team's 10th league victory on the season.
The Jaguars hit the road to continue PBC play at UNC Pembroke on Halloween at 7:00 p.m., following at Francis Marion on Nov. 1 beginning at 2:00 p.m. Jags host 2014 Senior Day Wednesday, Nov. 5 to honor senior duo Maggie Darling and Kristen Koch.
