PENSACOLA - The Montevallo volleyball rolled into the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference tournament with a decisive sweep of Union University on Friday evening. The win sets up a rubber match with No. 2 seed Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. In the process, senior outside hitter Evelina Teran put down her 1,500th career kill. She entered the match with 1,495 and finished the day leading the Falcons with 12 kills.

"We are proud of Evelina getting her 1,500+ kills," said Falcons head coach Katie O'Brien of her star senior. "She has had a great senior season!."

Allie Dishman and Macy Martin each tallied nine kills. Meanwhile, Sav Roys had 19 assists and Colton Thompson added 16. Libero Casey Hendrixson was stingy guarding the back door, piling up 17 digs.

As a team, the Falcons were swinging with deadly efficiency, hitting .372 for the match, including .440 in the third set.

The first set was tightly contested from the opening serve. With the score tied at 13, UM scored three straight to take a 16-13 lead. But, Union responded with a 6-1 run to take a 19-17 lead. The seesaw bounced back in the Falcons favor with three consecutive points, giving UM a 20-19 lead. The Bulldogs tied the set at 20, then the Falcons scored three in a row to get to set point at 24-20. Union battled back to get within a point at 24-23. But, Elizabeth Wilzbach ended the set with a kill off of an assist from Colton Thompson.

Teran reached her milestone in the second set when her 1,500th kill gave the Falcons an early 5-4 lead. The floor burner by the senior outside hitter sparked a 15-5 rally for the Falcons who took a commanding 19-9 lead. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 20-14, but the Falcons reclaimed the double-double digit lead with four straight points. A service error ended the set with UM winning 25-16. 

The Falcons dominated the third set, rolling to a 25-14 victory.

O'Brien was pleased with her team's effort winning a pair of matches to make it to the semis. "As a team we played well. It is hard to play back to back," she said. "We served aggressive and hit well.  Defense was passing well.  It was definitely a team effort!"

"Let's see what we can do tomorrow."

UM and UAH split their two matches this season. The Chargers swept the Falcons in the first meeting in Huntsville back in October, but UM evened the score on their home floor two weeks ago 3-1.