09/03/05– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JAGS DROP TWO ON FINAL DAY OF HELPING HANDS CLASSIC
CONTACT: Kevin Beasley

Box Score One

Box Score Two

MURRAY, Ky. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team entered the day Saturday with no losses but dropped both matches, 3-1 on the final day of the Helping Hands Classic hosted by Murray State University at Racer Arena.

MATCH ONE RECAP:

In game one, South Alabama (3-1) and Youngstown State (4-2) battled back-and-forth until with the Penguins holding a one point advantage at 13-12, YSU used a 9-3 spurt to open up the Jag deficit. USA kept battling, but could not over come the run and dropped its first game of the tournament, 30-21.

In game two, after the Jags held an early advantage at 2-1, YSU grabbed the lead and quickly pushed the margin out to three at 9-6. USA then went on a 6-1 run of its own to retake the lead at 12-10. The two clubs kept the game close with neither team able to stretch the lead out to more than one for much of the rest of the way. After a time out by the Penguins with USA leading 25-23, YSU retook to lead with three straight points and looked to be in control. However, South Alabama continued to battle back and with the game knotted at 27-27, Jenna Swilley gave the Jags the lead for good with her sixth kill of the game. USA scored the final two points for the victory in game two, 30-27.

Youngstown State came out in game three looking to take control early. With the game at 5-4 in favor of the Penguins, YSU went on a 7-2 scoring spurt to open the lead. The Jags trailed by as many as nine at 24-15 in the game until Summer Pilgrim ignited a 9-1 run with back-to-back kills. The Jag women however could not get over the hump as Youngstown State held on for the 30-27 victory. YSU's Cari Leslie recorded seven of her 21 kills during the game.

In the fourth and deciding match, the Penguins used a 13-2 run early to open a twelve point advantage at 18-6 to take a commanding lead. The Jag women could not get cut the deficit to anything closer than 10 the rest of the way as YSU went on to take game four 30-16 and the match 3-1.

The loss for Jags was the first of the season. USA was led in kills by Swilley's 17. Pilgram and Sanders also recorded double figures in the category with 10 and 14, respectively. Joining Leslie in double digit kills were Katie Shae with 13 and Traci Obonna with 11. YSU's Angie Pasquinelli also had 58 assists for the Penguins.

MATCH TWO RECAP:

In the second match of the day for the Jaguars (3-2), tournament host Murray State (1-2) came out and jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in game one. South Alabama however kept slowly chipping away at the Racer advantage and eventually tied the game at 25-25. After going back and forth over the next four points, USA look as if it were going to take the opener after Via Filipe's ninth kill of the game gave South Alabama a 29-27 lead, but MSU battled back and took the final four points capped off by Katie Kemezys' block of Sanders to gain the 31-29 victory.

Murray State came out in game number two and held the lead for much of the contest. South Alabama battled back. Behind the offense of Filipe, the Lady Jags began a 6-1 run to tie the game at 18-18. After Filipe tied the game 20-20 with her 15th kill of the match, MSU closed out the game with a 10-1 scoring spurt of its own to take the victory 30-21.

South Alabama and Murray State battled back-and-forth until the midway point of game three. With USA leading 15-14 on a Sanders ace, the Lady Racers used a run of four unanswered points to take a 18-15 lead. The Jaguars however did not go away and again kept creeping back. USA eventually knotted the game up at 22-22 on a Swilley kill. The two clubs swapped the lead the rest of the way until with South Alabama leading 30-29, Pilgrim put the game away with her fourth kill of the contests.

Game four was all Murray State as South Alabama never led. USA kept battling, but the Lady Racers stretched the lead to as many as 10 late in the contest at 28-18. MSU went on to take game four (30-21) and the match 3-1.

Filipe finished with a team-high 19 kills, while Sanders and Pilgrim had 15 and 10, respectively. Freshman Colleen Downey led the club with 14 digs. Sanders also had 12 digs to go along with her kill total. The Racers were led by Jolly Jansen's 17 kills. Kemezys and Alison Mugler also had 15.

A key stat in the match was in the dig category, where MSU outdug USA 82-68. The Jags were also outblocked 14-10.

South Alabama will return home to faces Southeastern Conference foe Alabama Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Jag Gym.