09/17/05– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JAGS EARN SPLIT WITH 3-1 VICTORY OVER OLE MISS
CONTACT: Kevin Beasley

Box Score (USA vs. Southern Miss)

Box Score (USA vs. Ole Miss)

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team split a pair of matches on the final day of the Jaguar Challenge held at Jag Gym.

"I felt like our team really needed a tough match against a quality opponent so that they could see their true potential," said South Alabama head coach Nicole Keshock. "We had to really work hard tonight and battle against Ole Miss. I think that they were able to see how good they can be. This is a big win for us as a club, our league and volleyball in general."

USA 3, Ole Miss 1

In the nightcap, South Alabama (5-7) redeemed its self with a 3-1 victory over Southeastern Conference foe Ole Miss (6-6).

The Jags came out in game one and grabbed and early 11-7 and led the contest the rest of the way en route to a 30-26 victory for South Alabama. USA led by as many as nine at 24-15 on a Summer Pilgrim kill. The Lady Rebels though did not go quietly the rest of the way though as they did manage to cut the deficit to two (24-22) with seven unanswered points. Via Filipe however stopped the Ole Miss run and the Rebels were unable to get any closer as USA took the opening game, 30-26.

The two clubs battled back-and-forth for much of game two until with it tied at 16-all, Ole Miss opened up a three point cushion aided by a couple of Jaguar errors. USA did battle back and regained the lead at 23-22 on an Ole Miss attack error. The Jags however could not capitalize and were outscored 8-2 the rest of the way. The Rebels evened the match at 1-1 with the 30-25 victory.

In game three, South Alabama trailed by as many as five early (10-5) but kept clawing its way back and eventually knotted the contest up at 22-22.the two clubs exchanged points for much of the rest of the way until with the game tied at 27-all, South Alabama reeled off three-straight points to take the victory, 30-27.

The finale was close early on with neither team taking more than three points for much of the match. Tied at 28-28, USA's Filipe gave the Jag women the lead for good with her 21st kill of the night and Pilgrim capped off the win with her 13th kill of the evening.

Filipe and Pilgrim were joined by Jenna Swilley's 13 kills. The Cantonment, Fla., native also had 10 digs to give her her first double-double of the year. Shannon VanAntwerp also had double figures in digs with 13, but true freshman Colleen Downey was the defensive star recording a career-high 27 digs.

Ole Miss was paced offensively by Jacly Toohey's 23 kills.

Filipe, Sanders, Toohey and Mobile native Nicki Hill (Ole Miss) were named to the all-tournament team for their play during the weekend.

USM 3, USA 1

In the opener versus Southern Miss (4-2), the two teams kept the game close in the early going with neither team holding more that a one point advantage. With the scored knotted at 9-9, the Golden Eagles used a 9-3 spurt to jump out to its largest lead of the game at 18-12. The USM run was capped off by an Amber Bloom cross-court kill. USA (4-7) kept battling though and again tied game one up at 21-21 on a Brittany Blackwelder kill. Southern Miss, however, outscored the Jags 9-3 the rest of the way to take the 30-24 victory.

Game two was a nip-and-tuck battle early on like the opener until with the Jag women trailing by one (12-11), USM stretched the lead out to three two points later on an USA attack error. Like in game one, South Alabama battled back and tied the game at 22-22 on another Blackwelder kill. However, three points later the Golden Eagles closed the game with another scoring spurt, this time 7-1 to take the second contests 30-24.

Trailing by two games in the match, USA was able to keep game three close early on like it had done in the previous two games. The trend continued as South Alabama battled back to tie the game up at 25-25 after trailing by as many as five. The two clubs exchanged the lead back and forth over the next few points until with the game tied at 29-29, Southern Miss captured the final to points to take the match with a 31-29 victory.

South Alabama was paced by Via Filipe's team-high 15 kills, while USM received an 18 kill performance from Amber Bloom.

USA will return to action Tuesday when it travels to Birmingham to take on Samford at 7 p.m.

OTHER TOURNAMENT ACTION:

Earlier in the day on Saturday, North Florida defeated Southern Miss 3-1 to claim the 2005 Jaguar Challenge Team Championship. UNF's Kelley Kazmierczak was named tournament MVP. Joining her on the all-tournament team were Jenna Thomas (UNF), Ashley Petrinec (USM) and Stevi Cherry (USM).