Staff report
The Augusta University volleyball team rallied from two sets down to defeat Lee University in five sets on Friday, Sept. 4, at Christenberry Fieldhouse in the AU/USC Aiken Invitational.
Nikol Antova had 17 kills and Sofia Snitsarevych added 10 to lead the Jaguars to a 17-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25-22, 15-11 victory.
After the Flames had won the first set with relative ease, Augusta began to battle back in what turned out to be a very tight second set.
From there, the Jaguars rode the strong front-line play of Antova and Snitsarevych, as well as the superior serving of Andrea Rodriguez and Hunter MacFarland. Rodriguez would finish with six aces and MacFarland with four for the victors.
“We had glimpses of what we could do in the first set where we were finding our rhythm,” said AU coach Sharon Quarles. “But we had a few mental errors. When we found our rhythm, that’s where you could see that we were becoming more comfortable.”
Augusta fell behind 3-0 in the final set, but then went on a 15-8 run to claim the match.
Rodriguez, the sophomore setter, finished with a game-high 40 assists, quarterbacking the AU attack. Emma Haren added support with 12 digs and two aces. Essence Jones added nine kills for the Jaguars.
Jasmine Terry led Lee (2-1) with 14 kills.
The Flames just edged the Jaguars in attack percentage at .215, compared to .196 for AU.
In the nightcap, West Greenville defeated AU (2-3) in four sets despite 18 kills from Antova. North Greenville (3-3) won 20-25, 25-20, 25-13, 27-25. Witherspoon added 12 kills.
The Jaguars will take on Carson-Newman at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, and then finish off the tournament with a nightcap against Shorter University at 6:30 p.m. All matches are at Christenberry Fieldhouse.
