Wheeler, Quarles win top awards; Jaguars host Flagler in PBC Tournament
By Justin Gray | Sports writer
The Augusta Jaguars, No. 1 seed and host team for the Peach Belt Conference volleyball tournament, will play Flagler in their semifinal match on Friday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. in Christenberry Fieldhouse.
“Having home-court advantage for any team is always good to have,” said AU Assistant Coach Deja Moorer. “The community is always good to have behind you.”
No. 4 Flagler faced No. 5 Georgia College in the quarterfinal match and won 3-1 to move on and play Augusta.
The matchup is a good one for Augusta, but the players aren’t focused on the other teams, but instead themselves.
Senior Madelyn Eden mentioned this about preparing for future matches.
“Our coach (Sharon Quarles) doesn’t call teams we are playing by their name, but calls them by their color, so we don’t think about what team is on the other side,” said Eden, a senior accounting major from Mulberry, Fla.
Flagler owns an 8-18 record on the season and 4-8 in the conference. The Saints’ wins came over Georgia College (three times) and USC Aiken.
Augusta, ranked second in the Southeast this week, swept Flagler all three times the two teams have played during the regular season. The closest set among the matches was a score of 25-23 in their third meeting.
Senior Ally Theiss, who will be returning next season, said the Jaguars need to play their game.
“We just have to focus on us and be us,” said Thees. “As long as we play Augusta volleyball, it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the net.”
This won’t be the only game at Christenberry Fieldhouse on Friday as third-seeded USC Aiken and second-seeded Lander will face off at 4:30 p.m.
Before the tournament gets underway, the PBC always holds its awards banquet for the season and this year Augusta hosted it as well, because of hosting the tournament. AU’s volleyball team won a plethora of awards, starting with the woman at the helm of the program, Quarles, winning coach of the year.
Senior outside hitter Jazmyn Wheeler took home the player of the year in the conference, along with her many other accolades. Wheeler won the player-of-the-year award for the second straight year. She was also an honorable mention all-America last season. Wheeler enters the PBC Tournament with 410 kills and 310 digs.
Along with these awards other Jaguars filled the first team all-conference team as well. Wheeler, setter Janvier Buggs and defensive specialist Dariana Luna were three of the six total players on the first team. Buggs has 802 assists on the season and leads the team in aces. Luna leads AU with 532 digs.
Sophia Kruczko, the transfer from East Carolina, made the second team. Kruczko is second on the team in kills with 218.
AU enters today’s match with Flagler on an 11-match winning streak. Indeed, the Jaguars have won 24 of their last 25 matches.
Contact Justin Gray at jusgray@augusta.edu.
Defensive specialist Dariana Luna of AU was named to the all-conference first team. Entering the PBC Tournament semifinals, Luna has 532 digs on the season. At the top of the page, Jazmyn Wheeler (16) was named PBC player of the year for the second straight season. She has 410 kills and 310 digs as she led AU to the regular-season title for the second season in a row. AU will play Flagler in the semifinals. (photos by Paula Toole, AU Athletics)
Janvier Buggs also made first team all-conference for the Jaguars. She enters the PBC Tournament with 802 assists and a team-best 45 service aces. Here she is setting up teammate Jazmyn Wheeler. (photo by Paula Toole, AU Athletics)
