Volleyball Closes Out Regular Season

Pensacola State closed out their regular season with three matches at the Calhoun Community College Warhawk Showdown.

In their first match on Friday. October 27th, the Pirates fell to the home team in a five-set thriller (25-7, 25-19, 21-25, 19-25, 13-15).  

The Pirates came out of the gate strong in the first set, with 14 kills and no errors, then secured the second set with another tally of 14 kills. The Warhawks then turned right around in the third set, grabbed ahold of the momentum and stole the third and fourth set. The final set of the match was a point-by-point brawl. PSC scored seven kills against the home team but was unable to finish the match on top.  

The Pirates had no choice but to move forward as they played in their second match against a familiar face, Enterprise CC. This time, navy and green bagged a 3-0 sweep against the Boll Weevils (25-21, 25-18, 25-14).  

Outside hitter, Anyaliz Rodriguez stole the show offensively by presenting 15 kills, hitting an average of .387. Middle hitter Paige Patterson brought in six kills of her own, with an average of .363. Setter Kiara Vega helped set her team up for victory with 29 assists and seven digs as did libero Maddie Mire with 16 digs. 

Pensacola State finished off the tournament on Saturday with another three-set victory against the Bevill State Bears (25-14, 25-15, 25-7).  

Middle hitter, Riley Carter had a stellar performance of 12 kills with an attacking average of .667. Alongside her once again was Rodriguez with a double-double of 12 kills and 13 digs. Vega led in assists with 18, but not far behind her was freshman Madison Johnson who dished out 14 assists, both helping their team tally up 42 kills with an attacking average of .388. The Pirates were not only fierce at the net, they were just as lethal behind the end line as they racked up 14 service aces against the Bears. Pensacola defended a total of 54 digs, with Mire leading her team with a whopping 18 digs.  

The Pirates will be making their way down to Palm Beach State College on November 2-4 for the 2023 FCSAA Divison II NJCAA South Atlantic District Volleyball Tournament. The team will be going into the tournament as the #4 seed and will play their first match against #5 St. Johns River State College.