FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10-21-06

College Volleyball: AASU 3, Augusta State 1

SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Armstrong Atlantic State volleyball squad inched closer to defending its Peach Belt Conference regular season title with a 3-1 victory over visiting Augusta State on Saturday afternoon at the ARC. Game scores were: 31-33, 30-19, 30-25, 30-17.

            The Pirates (17-12, 9-1 PBC) can clinch at least a share of the title with a win in either of its final two matches, or win the title outright with two victories next week against Francis Marion and UNC Pembroke.

            Augusta State (11-18, 1-9 PBC) caught the Pirates napping in the first game as the Jaguars hit .295 with 18 kills to take game one. AASU held the Jaguars to just an .069 hitting percentage the rest of the way to claim the four-game win, the 16^th straight for the Pirates over Augusta State, dating back to 1998.

            Junior Rindy Vidovich led a quartet of AASU players in double figure kills with 18 on the match. Senior Leah Schmiedge notched 13 kills, while senior Adriana Miller added 11 kills to go with her match-high-tying 16 digs. Senior Traci Knuth had another fine all-around game with 12 kills, a .320 hitting percentage, 10 digs and five blocks. Margaret Thornton tallied 34 assists as well.

            The Jaguars were led offensively by the duo of Jessica Howard and Brooke Elder. Howard had 15 kills and five blocks, while Elder hit .409 with 12 kills. Jessica Lowes tallied a match-high 37 assists for Augusta State, while Rachel Dyer notched 16 digs.

            AASU will host Francis Marion next on Friday, Oct. 27, at 7:00 p.m. Augusta State returns to action on Friday, Oct. 27, at UNC Pembroke for a 7:00 p.m. match.

- Pirates -