Written by Erin Martin, Staff Writer

Valdosta, GA. Valdosta State defeated West Alabama in their volleyball game this past Tuesday with a final score of of 3-1. (25-21, 19-25, 25-20, 25-18)

VSU’s defeat crushed UWA’s hopes to continue onto the GSC finals, and will proceed to compete against North Alabama in the Gulf South Conference Tournament.

The Tigers made a comeback in the second set of the game with a score of 25 to 19. However, all four sets were consecutively close in score, making the match a close call. The Blazers doubled their aces 5 to 2, and dominated in assists of 64 to our 42 assists.

Anita Rodriguez Sanchez, junior hitter, led our Blazers with 16 kills. Honored outside hitters, Susanna Peonia and Lea Jaklen also finished the match with 15 kills each.

Along with other highlights from the win, Codato, second time winner of GSC Player of the Year, assisted 53 times which was the highest of the game and helped reach the totaled 63 kills in the game.

“I think our hitters did a great job in finding the court, not only by being aggressive with hard hits, but also by being smart finding holes in the opponents court with shots. That helped me break my assist record.”

Codato considers her GSC honor as a team award, and attributes her team’s success to their chemistry, dedication, and hard work.

“I think Coach Swan has been doing an amazing job in bringing in people who are very committed to the game and to the program. The past couple of years that I’ve been here, the already improved and that itself is a big motivation. It’s very rewarding to see the program and the team grow.” Said Codato.

UWA’s Tigers also made great strides in the game with a total of net out vlocking VSU at 7 to 5. Junior seter Callie Murphy ended the game with 35 assists and 22 digs.

This game was the second repeated season the Blazers hosted the playoffs. The last two rounds and next game for VSU will be hosted in Pensacola, Fla on Saturday, November 21.