PENSACOLA, Fla. — The University of West Alabama volleyball team suffered its fifth loss of the season on Friday to No. 25 West Florida at the UWF Fieldhouse.  The setback to the Argonauts hands UWA the third seed from the Eastern Division in next week’s Gulf South Conference Tournament in Searcy, Ark.

The Tigers (26-5, 7-4 GSC) battled UWF in the opening game before falling 30-23.  The Red and White held a one-point edge at 24-23 before the Green and White Argos put together a string of seven straight points to claim the first game.  UWA dropped the next two games 30-16 and 30-18.

Junior Allison Nail led the Tiger charge with 10 kills.  The Cullman, Ala.-native posted a match-high 43 attempts.  With her double figure kill mark in the match, Nail has tallied 994 total career kills in her two-plus seasons in a Red and White uniform.  She is six shy of becoming only the second UWA volleyball player to reach the 1,000-kill plateau.  Current assistant coach Amanda Heaton is the lone member of the 1,000-kill club at UWA.  Senior Rafaella Maranhao added nine kills in the affair while sophomore Ana Gabriela Pedrosa carded a team-best 11 digs.

UWF (28-4, 11-0 GSC) placed three players in double figures in kills, led by Kimberly William’s 14.  Isabela Gualberto and Luciana Rupach registered 13 and 11 kills respectively.

The Red and White close out the regular season slate with a Noon CST tilt with the Valdosta State Lady Blazers.  The Tigers swept VSU 3-0 earlier in the season.  VSU (9-24, 0-11 GSC) fell to Montevallo on Friday night.