Lady Rams Fall In Five

PENSACOLA, Fla— NCAA Div II 20th-ranked University of West Florida handed 18th-ranked University of Mobile their first loss of the season, beating the Lady Rams 3-2 (25-20, 19-25, 25-13, 24-26, 15-8).

West Florida’s Luciana Rapach provided a rare triple-double for the Argos, with 17 kills, 15 digs and 10 assists to help drop the Lady Rams to 18-1 and end Mobile’s 18-match win streak.

West Florida out-hit Mobile .192 to .171, holding the Lady Rams well below their usual .297 attack percentage.

In the opening set, both teams battled back-and-forth, with neither able to pull away by more than 2. But, Rapach stepped to the service line for the Lady Argos and produced back-to-back aces on floaters to put UWF up 17-14 and then Mobile errors down the stretch helped the home team pull out the win.

In the second set, Mobile played like they are accustomed to, hitting .276 to just .121 for the Argos. DeCreisha Arrington led the way in the set with 4 kills and a .667 attack percentage. The set was tied 9-9, before the Lady Rams pulled ahead 18-14 and then West Florida never got within more than 3 from that point.

The third set was all West Florida’s, as they out hit Mobile .316 to .071 and just dominated from the outset to go ahead 2-1 in the match.

Set No. 4 saw Mobile rally in a must-win game, as the defense rose to the occasion and held the Argos to a .038 hitting percentage. With Mobile facing elimination, down 24-23, Whitney Knight blistered back-to-back kills, and then a West Florida attack error gave Mobile the set win.

West Florida showed why they are ranked 20th in NCAA Div II by dominating the 5th set from the start and picking up the match-clinching 15-8 victory.

Whitney Knight finished with a double-double of 15 kills and 12 digs, and Syretta Baldwin added 10 kills on a .259 attack percentage for the Lady Rams. Setters Nicole Stokes and Amy Carey added double-double’s for Mobile, as Stokes went for 23 assists and 17 digs, with Carey collecting 23 assists and 10 digs.