MOBILE, Ala. ? Holding a 2-1 match lead, the University of South Alabama women’s volleyball team looked as if it were going to snap a 10-match losing streak Friday night at Jag Gym but dropped a heartbreaker, 3-2 (24-30, 30-24, 23-30, 30-27, 15-9) to Arkansas-Little Rock in Sun Belt Conference action.
The loss for South Alabama drops the Lady Jags to 5-16 overall and 0-9 in the Sun Belt. UALR improves to 10-15 overall and 3-5 in the SBC. USA will take on Arkansas State Saturday night at Jag Gym at 7 p.m. ASU entered Sun Belt action this weekend with a 13-10 overall mark and is 4-3 in conference action and will take on Troy on Friday night before heading to Mobile.
“Tonight was probably the best that we have played in the past two weeks,” said South Alabama head coach Nicole Keshock. “Obviously, we are disappointed that we weren’t able to pull it out in the end and we will continue to work on that. We had a lot of youth on the court tonight with three freshmen and a sophomore for a majority of the time and they did a great job for us. We are still looking for that leadership at the end to help us close out the match. Taylor (Irvin) struggled a little tonight offensively on the front row, but what I am proud about is she didn’t let that aspect of her game affect how she did in the other areas. She played very well on the back row and I think that just shows that she is an all around team player.”
In the opener for the first half of the game, neither team was able to pull away by more than two points. With the Lady Jags trailing 15-14, USA reeled off four straight points to take the lead for good at 18-15 on a block assist from Taylor Irvin and Brittany Blackwelder. UALR was able to trim the deficit to 23-22 after a Sanda Dzile service ace and an Amila Barakovic kill, but the Trojans got no closer as South Alabama took seven of the next eight points to capture the 30-24 game one victory. In the opener, USA recorded a solid .360 attack percentage.
Arkansas-Little Rock evened the match back up at 1-1 in game two with a 30-24 victory of its own. USA broke open a early tie and held a 10-7 lead after a Lauren Robbins put away, but the Trojans responded with a 10-3 run over the next 13 points that proved to be the difference. The Jags were able to get as close as two points on five occasions down the stretch, the last coming at 21-19 on another Robbins kill, but UALR went on to take the six point victory.
Game three started out tight early on as well. Trailing 5-4, USA grabbed the lead for good after a Jennifer Johnson kill and back-to-back Trojan attack errors. South Alabama only allowed UALR to get as close as two points the rest of the way. The Jags closed out the win with two straight service aces from Colleen Downey and kills from Jennifer Johnson and Stephanie Cutter. Cutter’s found the back left corner to seal the vicotory and USA went on to take a 2-1 match lead with the 30-23 win.
Like in game two, the visiting Trojans again evened up the match at two games a piece with a win in the fourth game. South Alabama jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead that was highlighted by service aces from Kalyn Hundley and Irvin. UALR responded right back with six of the next seven points and reclaimed the lead at 7-6 on another Barakovic kill. Neither team down the stretch was able to lead by any more than three and with the game tied up 26-26, Arkansas-Little Rock was able to push across four of the final five points to take the 30-27 victory.
In the finale, USA grabbed the first point, but the Trojans held control the rest of the way as UALR quickly pushed its lead out to 7-2 on an Ivanka Davidova kill. Johnson trimmed the margin to 10-7 with her 13th kill of the night, but South Alabama got no closer and the Trojans held on for the 15-9 win and took the match 3-2.
Offensively, the Lady Jags placed three players in double digit kills, led by Robbins 17. Johnson and Jenna Swilley had 13 and 11, respectively. The defensive star of the night was Irvin, who recorded a career-high 24 digs. Junior libero Shannon VanAntwerp also had 17 for USA. Barakovic (UALR) led all players on the night with 24 kill. She was one of four Lady Trojans in double figures.
