ROME -- They did it! The Lady Hawks upset No. 15 West Florida, 3-1, Friday night in front of a huge crowd at the Winthrop-King Centre. With the win, Shorter takes lone possession of the top spot in the Gulf South Conference standings, and hands the Argos their first loss of the season.
West Florida (12-1, 6-1 GSC) entered the game as the favorite, bringing an undefeated record and a national ranking to Rome, but the Lady Hawks had other plans. Shorter (9-2, 7-0 GSC) jumped out to an early lead, winning the first game 25-17, before dropping the second 24-26.
In the second set, West Florida used a run of seven unanswered points to build a big lead, but the Lady Hawks started chipping away. With the Argos at set point – leading 24-20 – Shorter rallied to tie the game, but a service error on Dena Pierce gave West Florida the lead, and ultimately the win.
Tied 1-1, the Lady Hawks kicked into gear and won the final two sets 25-19 and 25-21, respectively, to earn the match victory. In the third set it was all Shorter, despite having the Argos tie the game on two separate occasions the Lady Hawks never trailed in the set. The fourth set, however, was back and forth as the lead changed three times and score was tied 14 times. Shorter used a late 7-3 run to put away the win after tying the score 18-18 on a kill from Elizabeth Dowd.
Jasmine Crook led the offense for Shorter, tallying 14 kills in the match to go along with 9 digs. Dowd posted 13 kills and 14 digs. While both Erica Baker and Anna Graham recorded 10 kills on the night and Cheyenne Frady recorded 24 assists.
Cheyenne McLemore led the defense with a team high 16 digs. The Lady Hawks front line also tallied 9 blocks in the game, with Baker assisting on a match high 7.
Pierce finished the night with 20 assists to go with 10 digs and 2 service aces.
The Argos were led by Carol Siqueira's 18 kills. KC Dobbins tallied 31 assists and 18 digs on the night.
Shorter will be back in action Friday, October 3 as they travel to Jackson, Tenn. to take on the Bulldogs of Union University before travelling to Memphis to take on Christian Brothers on Saturday, October 4.
