AU volleyball defeats North Greenville, Mount Olive in Pacer Invitational
By Rodrigo Burgos Avila | Editor in chief
AIKEN, S.C.—Mia Saavedra had two strong outings to lead the Augusta University volleyball team to a sweep of North Greenville and Mount Olive at the Pacer Invitational on Friday, Sept. 12.
In the nightcap, Saavedra had 17 kills on a .311 clip to lead AU (4-1) to a 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 win over Mount Olive at the USC Aiken Convocation Center. Layne Witherspoon totaled 10 kills in a .409 outing.
Earlier, in the opener, the Jaguars won over North Greenville by scores of 14-25, 25-15, 26-24, 26-24 behind 13 kills and 13 digs from Saavedra. She hit at a .353 clip in the win over the Trailblazers. Senior transfer Lauren Nelson led AU with 15 kills.
After dropping the first set. the Jaguars knew they had to reset.
“The mindset was just to be better,” said Witherspoon, a junior middle. “That was not us, obviously. We were kinda playing frantic. I guess the mindset was just forget it, forget that set, that didn’t happen. And just a lot more energy, so we juts kinda ramped it up.”
Witherspoon’s energy helped turn the tide. She had an ace to give the Jaguars the two-point victory in the third set.
AU Coach Sharon Quarles credited the balanced attack across multiple positions.
“They decided to show up and play,” said Quarles. “We got production from outside, Nelson, Layne Witherspoon, the middle and Angela Mateos on the right side, so we had some production from the outside, middle and right side. So that’s what they had to deal with.”
The fourth set was very tight, with North Greenville up 24-23 late before Augusta got three straight points to win. First, Quarles called timeout to settle her team.
Then, with the Trailblazers serving, a hotly contested point ended in a North Greenville attack error for 24-24.
The Jaguars finished the match off with a Saavedra kill and a block by 6-foot-2 Ukranian outside hitter Sofiia Snitsarevych. She finished with six blocks.
Quarles said serving was another key to Augusta’s success.
“I think we weaponized our serves,” she said. “ We had serving errors, but not as many as the first weekend, they were much more effective. And even the serving errors that did happen, they were good serving errors, they were aggressive serving errors.”
Witherspoon added that staying sharp in key moments made a huge difference.
“I think that what was working for the team was being aggressive and keeping the other team out of system,” she said. “That eliminates a few hitters from the block and defense in general. Just play clean volleyball. Once we get to 20, we need to play clean, no mistakes.”
Sydney Harrington had 40 assists for the winners, and teammate Witherspoon added 10 kills. Giulia Rodrigues led the defensive effort for AU with 21 digs. Hunter MacFarland had 12 digs.
Harrington would add 30 assists in the win over Mount Olive (1-4), which was led by Breanna Reisinger with nine kills.
Samantha Ball led the NGU Trailblazers (2-2) with 15 kills.
In the second match, Augusta turned in a balanced effort, finishing with 46 kills on a .225 hitting percentage, while limiting the Trojans to juts .120. The Jaguars also controlled the net with 14 blocks and matched Mount Olive with 69 digs.
In addition to the fine play of Saavedra and Witherspoon, Nelson added seven kills and 14 digs. Middle blockers Mateos and Snitsarevych chipped in five kills each and combined for nine blocks.
Setter Harrington kept the offense rolling with 30 assists and eight digs, while Rodrigues anchored the back row with a match-high 21 digs.
It was Saavedra’s attack that kept the Jaguars rolling.
“Offensively, I tried to find the holes on their defense as much as I could and I used the blockers’ hands when I could,” she said. “Aiming for high hands is my go-to. It’s not flashy, but it’s effective. Winning the first match obviously left us feeling good. We all just wanted to carry on that feeling and finish a game in three sets.”
Augusta began the match by establishing control, hitting at a .262 clip in the opening set. After edging out a tight second frame, the Jaguars used timely blocking to put away the third and complete the sweep.
“We didn’t [have control] for most of that third set,” Saavedra admitted. “But we didn’t set the goal of a sweep just to not sweep. They weren’t beating us, we were beating us. A little tough love from our coaches and teammates, and we managed to turn it around and play Augusta volleybal.l”
Quarles said the third-set comeback was a turning point for the team.
“Definitely improved in the blocking area, big-time weaponizing the serve, and the fact that we were down in the third set and we didn’t cave but battled back and won—that was a breakthrough for us. First match of the season to win in three sets!” She added, “We actually shut down their go-to hitter, which was huge for us and allowed us to gain momentum and confidence.”
The Jaguars will return to the Convocation Center on Saturday, Sept. 13, for a 5 p.m. matchup against Francis Marion.
Contact Rodrigo Burgos Avila at rburgosavila@augusta.edu.
Sydney Harrington (13) and Layne Witherspoon (20) go up for the block off the attack by North Greenville’s Samantha Ball (2). At the top of the page, Witherspoon (L) serves for the Jaguars; she clinched the third set with an ace. (photos by Rodrigo Burgos Avila/the Bell Ringer)
