Augusta beats Francis Marion in final home match of volleyball season

By Jack Johnson | Sports writer

The Augusta University volleyball team played its final home game of the season on Tuesday, April 13, and defeated Francis Marion University in five sets.

The match was close from start to finish as the two teams traded sets which forced a final tie breaking set to be played.

It was Francis Marion who managed to strike first as they won the first set 25-20.

However, the Jaguars were able to take the second and third sets 25-17 and 25-18 respectively, but Francis Marion won a close fourth set 25-23 to force a final set, which would be played to 15.

The Jaguars were able to edge out Francis Marion in this final 15-13 and ultimately left the contest with yet another win. AU has won 10 consecutive matches.

The Jaguars were led by sophomore Samantha Zittrauer, who posted a season-high 37 assists for the match. Offensively, the Jaguars were led by Kylie Martin and Julia Archer, who amounted to 16 and 14 kills, respectively, while Chloe Allen and Alyssa Frazier added 12 and 13 kills, respectively. 

Despite putting up 37 assists for the match, Zittrauer was still not satisfied with her performance.

“It was not the prettiest game and I will be working this week to clean up my play,” she said.

The Jaguars will travel to Milledgeville on Friday, April 16, to compete in their final contest of the regular season against Georgia College. The Jaguars have already bested the Bearcats once this season as they won a previous matchup in three sets. 

Zittrauer discussed the team’s mindset headed into the matchup on Friday.

“Our team mindset is to start strong and limit our errors each set,” she said. “The goal on Friday is to finish the match in three sets so that we can focus on our postseason.”

 Augusta currently sits at second in the Peach Belt Conference with an overall record of 11-2. The team sits just one and a half games behind the first-place Flagler Saints, who currently are 13-1 on the season. 

“Our goal for the post-season is to win another ring,” Zittrauer said.

With the regular season coming to a close, winning the conference tournament championship will be the goal for the entire team and seeing how strong the Jaguars have looked this season, this seems like a very real possibility. Indeed, AU has won the last two PBC tourney titles.

Contact Jack Johnson at jacjohnson@augusta.edu.