By Cameron Windley |Sports writerThe Augusta University volleyball team captured a 3-1 win over Belmont Abbey on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at Christenberry Fieldhouse.The Jaguars (6-2) were led by Chloe Allen, Madison Malloch, Kylie Martin, Nicolette Ramos, Payton Murchie, Holland Martin and Jessica Hedrick in a match that lasted nearly two hours. Allen led the way with a match-high 14 kills. She had seven block assists and seven digs. Kylie Martin added 12 kills, nine digs and seven block assists. Nicollette Ramos, a junior transfer from Florida State College at Jacksonville, had a double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs. Payton Murchie had a game high 29 assists. Holland Martin had 15 digs to lead AU. Malloch had eight kills, and Hedrick had seven.In the non-conference contest, the Jaguars did a good job holding Belmont to 0.78 hitting percentage while the hosts hit at a .197 clip.The first set between the two teams went back and forth for the most part. The Jaguars beat the Crusaders 25-22, as Augusta hit at .189 and Belmont Abbey hit at .167.During the second set, the Jaguars beat the Crusaders in dominating fashion, winning convincingly 25-14. The Jaguars hit at .143 while the Crusaders hit at -.111.In the third set, the Crusaders were looking to win to give them some life. The Jaguars were looking fatigued as they lost to the Crusaders 25-21. The Crusaders hit at .235 and the Jaguars hit at .179.The loss during the third set is what the Jaguars needed. It was like a wakeup call for AU, which bounced back convincingly to win 25-15 in the fourth set. The Jaguars hit at .290 as the Crusaders hit at -.032.AU Coach Sharon Quarles was satisfied with the win, but she said there are things that the Jags have to work on.“There was not much of a scouting report on Belmont Abbey, so basically we look at the stats of the previous matches they did play and we looked at who got the most sets," Quarles said. "We based our strategy around what we need to do for our team, and we still failed at serving. We had too many serving errors, and that is something that we discussed earlier. We had at least 12."Asked what her team needs to do to get better, Quarles responded: "To keep moving and pushing the envelope, and getting better in that way."Belmont Abbey Coach Toni Elyea said he game plan for her team was to focus on their defense.“We just watched tape from our last matches, and we worked hard during our practice sessions to improve our defense," Elyea said. "Overall, there were things that I liked and things I didn’t like. I like what our team did in the third set, and we need to have that same energy in every set."Cassidy Bonito had 10 kills for the Crusaders (0-9), and teammate Mackenzie Chrapliwy had 11 total points.The Jaguars hope to improve on their record on Friday, Sept. 20, when they play West Alabama in Livingstone, Ala. AU will also play Montevallo and Southern Arkansas on the trip to Alabama. The Jaguars will return home Tuesday, Sept. 24, against Limestone. That match will start at 7 p.m. at Christenberry. 
Contact Cameron Windley at cwindley@augusta.edu.