MONROE, La. ? The University of South Alabama volleyball team dropped a 3-0 Sun Belt Conference decision Friday night to Louisiana-Monroe at the Activity Center on the ULM campus.
South Alabama (5-13-0-6 SBC) will continue its three-match road trip when the Jags face Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at 5 p.m. in Lafayette at the Earl K. Long Gym.
ULM (4-18, 1-5 SBC) held the advantage early on in the opener, as the Warhawks jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead. After the Jags had cut the deficit to 12-10, Louisiana-Monroe stretched its lead back out to seven (17-10) with five straight points. South Alabama began to claw its way back and after back-to-back attack errors from ULM, the contest was tied again at 19-all. After a block assist from Jade Nuss and Brittany Blackwelder and a kill from the Jag middle blocker, USA took their first lead of the night at 24-23. The two clubs went back-and-forth over the remainder of game one with neither able to gain more than a two-point advantage. In extra points, ULM was able to outlast the Jags 39-37 and go up 1-0 in the match.
Like in the opener, both clubs kept game two close, again with neither able to take more than a two-point lead throughout much of the match. Holding a 24-22 lead, Louisiana-Monroe pushed across three-straight points to take its biggest lead of game two at five. South Alabama kept battling and was able to cut the deficit to 29-27 after a Taylor Irvin put away and a Warhawk attack error, but on the next point, Ilima Sam Fong sealed the victory 30-27 win for ULM with her eighth kill of the night.
In game three, USA held the early advantage and after ULM tied the contest up at 13-13 on a Nicole Schaferkotter kill, the Lady Jags regained the lead three straight points. The South Alabama spurt was capped off by a Shannon VanAntwerp ace. With USA holding a 22-20 lead after a block assist from Irvin and Jennifer Johnson, Schaferkotter ignited a 10-1 run to close the game and the match. The Louisiana-Monroe defense capped off the 30-23 comeback victory with a combined block from Stephanie Hall and Megan Osborne.
Schaferkotter led three Warhawks in double figures with 18 kills and hit a blistering .571 from the floor. Hall and Sam Fong also finished with 14 kills each. Blackwelder had nine kills to lead the way for USA. Seeing her first significant action of the year, Nuss came off the bench for the Jags and recorded 24 assists, six digs, two service aces and four block assists.
