WINGATE, NC- The No. 2 seed Augusta University volleyball team defeated No. 3 seed Lander in five sets to advance to the NCAA Southeast region final on Saturday afternoon. The Jaguars will face the winner of the No.1 seed Wingate/No. 4 seed Anderson match on Saturday night.
Augusta is now 29–4, with their last loss coming almost 2 months ago to Lander on October 7. AU is on a 15-game win streak and looks to potentially avenge an early season, five-set loss to Wingate. The winner of the regional final match will advance to the Elite Eight in Moon Township, Pennsylvania Dec. 7-9.
AU cruised to an easy, 25-16 Set 1 victory. Lander answered defensively, limiting Augusta to a .091 hitting percentage and a .048 hitting percentage in the second and third sets. While the Bearcats started the fourth set on a 6-2 run,
Sophia Kruczko and
Jazmyn Wheeler provided an offensive spark, leading AU to a 25-19 fourth-set victory.
The fifth and final set was all AU. The Jags led 6-2 early and had an 8-4 advantage at the switch. Lander would not be denied easily, using a 5-0 to bring the score to 11-10. After an attack error from Lander's Katie Miller, a huge block from
Jazmyn Wheeler and
Jada Suguturaga gave Augusta a 13-10 advantage. Wheeler followed with a kill down the line, forcing a timeout at 14-10. Another kill on the overpass sealed the match and sent Augusta to the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in school history.
Augusta was paced by Wheeler's 21 kills, 18 digs, and 6 blocks. All-conference performer Kruczko had 17 kills and 2 blocks. All-Region middle
Madelyn Eden matched Kruczko's six blocks and added 10 kills to the stat sheet.
Four different Jaguars tallied double-figure digs.
Dariana Luna led the match with 27, setter
Janvier Buggs had 18, and defender Ally These had 12. Buggs dished 39 assists in the victory.
Fans of Jaguar Athletics can subscribe to the email listserve by clicking
here. Fans can follow Augusta University at
www.AugustaJags.com and receive short updates on Facebook at
Augusta University Athletics and on Twitter at
@AugustaJags