Nov. 9, 2006- Day one of the NCAA Division II South Central volleyball regional saw one upset, as 19th-ranked Washburn lost in three games to West Florida. Regional powers Truman, Central Missouri and North Alabama will join the Argonaunts in the regional semifinals.

On Friday, the regional tournament will be a battle between the Gulf South Conference and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Central Missouri will face West Florida at 4 p.m., followed by a match between North Alabama and Truman.

Truman 3, Albany State 0

The top-ranked team in the country dominated Albany State (Ga.) Thursday night in Pershing Arena, winning the match by a score of 30-14, 30-14 and 30-22.

 

Rooted on by the home crowd, most of Truman players got an opportunity to play at some point during the evening, thus giving younger players their first chance at playing in NCAA tournament action.

 

Lauren Graybeal led the Bulldogs with 12 total kills for the night and an impressive .647 hitting average. Susie Lesher also had a good night at the net, accumulating 10 kills. Melissa Keck and Kelsey Wackerman both had six kills each.

 

Three different players shared the position of setter for the Bulldogs. Wackerman, Christine Wagener and Amanda Holliday each had double digit assists. Holliday also grabbed an impressive dig during the third game of the night.

 

The Bulldogs had a lot of success serving throughout the evening, collecting a total of 11 aces. They also had eight blocks on the night.

 

Albany State had a hard time finding any success at the net against the Bulldogs. The team had only a .037 hitting percentage. Alona Brinson and Rachell Anderson led the Lady Rams with seven kills a piece.

 

The team showed positive moments during the third game of the night when Rachell Anderson and Charity Glover made several blocks against Truman attacks.

 

Carleeza Garrett had 20 assists and three digs for the Lady Rams.

 

Truman advances to the regional semifinals, where they will meet North Alabama.

North Alabama 3, Pittsburg State 1

Although Pittsburg State gave North Alabama stiff competition in the first two games, the 13th-ranked team in the country defeated Pittsburg State with a score of 31-29, 27-30, 30-19 and 30-22.

 

The Lions were led by Nilcia Oliveira, who accumulated 23 attacks and had a .317 hitting percentage. Danielle Palasak and Kasie Spencer assisted in the attack program, with 17 and 16 kills respectively. North Alabama had a .268 hitting percentage, compared to the Gorillas .167 average.

 

Key to the Lions win was their ability to block. Dee Ayers had a team high nine block assists. The Lions had 14 blocks in all, while Pittsburg State had only six.

 

Laura Bellinger set her hitters up nicely throughout the evening, making a total of 70 assist. Bellinger also had 24 digs and seven kills. Libero Ashley Hill worked hard on the back row for the Lions, making an impressive 32 digs.

 

Klaudia Grelowska led the attack game for the Gorillas with a total of 17. Close behind were Pamela Cartagena and Sammie Williams who had 15 each.

 

Pittsburg State’s Sarah Brannock had 55 assists and seven digs. Brannock, Grelowska, Cartagena and Lindsay Quall all had two block assists each.

 

Cartagena also had a team high of 24 digs, while Libero Lindsay Shineman had 21.

 

North Alabama improved to 31-5, while Pittsburg State ended their season with a record of 22-12. North Alabama will play either Truman State or Albany State in the regional semifinal match Friday in Pershing Arena.

West Florida 3, Washburn 0

The Argonaunts closed out games better than the Lady Blues, which led to a 30-25, 30-27, 30-25 upset victory over the 19th-ranked team in the country. All three games were close 2/3 of the way through, but West Florida dominated down the stretch in all three.

Two other big reasons for the victory were the team's serving and Naiara Fernandez.

On the serving front, West Florida had seven aces and kept Washburn off balanced with their serving throughout the match. Fernandez, meanwhile, had an amazing 26 kills, an average of nearly nine kills a game. She had 62 attempts in the game and ended up hitting .258.

Fernandez got a lot of help from her teammates. Carly Moyers and Danielle Spitzer each had nine kills and hit .333 or better. Moyers also had a team-high eight blocks, having a hand in all of the Argonaunts blocks except for two.

Marcela Cunha led the way with 41 assists and Jerica Carter had a team-high 16 digs.

Washburn was led by Tessa Jones who had 19 kills and  a .415 hitting percentage. Kate Hampson finished with 35 assists and Erica Cowhick led the Lady Blues with 15 digs.

West Florida improves to 20-14 overall and advances to the regional semifinals on Friday against Central Missouri. Washburn ends its campaign with a 27-9 overal record.

Central Missouri 3, Missouri Southern 1

Experience won out in the first match of the day between Central Missouri and Missouri Southern. The Jennies, making their 24th straight NCAA appearance, defeated the Lions, who were making their first appearance, by a score of 30-17, 25-30, 30-19, 30-21.

None of the four games went down to the wire with most of the games being decided early on. The difference was a hot Central Missouri offense which hit .341 in the match, including .360 or better in all three wins.

Katie Tarka, the Jennies normal libero, switched to hitter and led the team with 22 kills, and also added 19 digs. Jillian Ohrman added 20 kills in the match and had a team-high five blocks. Both players hit over .400 in the win.

Lauren Nuckolls added 17 kills for Central Missouri and Andrea Robertson was in double-figures with 11 kills. Caitlin Pankratz led the team with 50 assists and Audrey Jensen paced the squad with 25 digs.

Tessa Woods led the Lions with 16 kills and a .441 hitting percentage. Cherie Baugh and Ashley Mehrer were both in double-figure kills as well. Megan Norman led Missouri Southern with 23 digs and Erin Mitchem had a team-high 22 assists.

Central Missouri improves to 23-12 and advances to tomorrow's semifinals. Missouri Southern ends its year with a 23-12 overall record.