MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama women’s volleyball team remained winless on the young conference season Sunday afternoon when it fell 3-0 (22-30, 17-30, 25-30) to East Division leader Florida International (13-4, 5-0 SBC) at Jag Gym. 

“FIU right now is doing a great job,” said South Alabama volleyball head coach Nicole Keshock.  “They have a lot of hitters that come at you from different angles.  I think in game three, we finally began to play like I know we can, but at that point though it was a little too late.”  

South Alabama (5-12, 0-5 SBC) will next begin a three-match road trip when the Jags face Louisiana-Monroe on Friday at 7 p.m. in Monroe, before traveling to Louisiana-Lafayette and New Orleans.

In the opener, both clubs battled back-and-forth early on with neither able to gain more than a two point advantage.  With the Jags holding a 10-8 lead, FIU used a 7-0 run to retake the lead at 15-10.  Golden Panther freshman sensation Yarimar Rosa capped off the scoring spurt with one of her match-high 14 kills.  USA continued to battle and after a Stephanie Cutter kill and a Kayln Hundley service ace, the Lady Jags held the lead again at 18-17.  Florida International again answered with a run, this time five unanswered points to take the lead for good.  The Panthers went on to take game one 30-22.

FIU came out in game two and took control from the start, jumping out to a quick 9-2 advantage.  South Alabama was able to cut the deficit to five on two occasions, but could not draw any closer as Florida International went up 2-0 in the match with the 30-17 victory. 

Like in the opener, the beginning of the third contest was tight early on, again with neither team able to pull away by more than two points.  With Trailing 11-10, Summer Pilgrim ignited a 4-0 Jaguar scoring spurt with a kill of her own.  USA later held a 19-13 advantage after a Taylor Irvin put away, but that’s when the visiting Panthers began to chip away at the Jaguar lead.  With USA holding a 24-22 lead, Rosa started what would be the eventual 8-2 game-winning scoring spurt with another kill.  Dyionna Smith completed the FIU rally with her third kill of the day to give the Golden Panthers the match with the 30-26 game three win.

Irvin and Robbins were the only two Lady Jags in double digit kills, while Rosa led FIU in that category.