BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama women’s volleyball team dropped its second match of the day Saturday afternoon when the Jags fell 3-2 (30-27, 27-30, 26-30, 30-22, 12-15) to Nicholls State at the Loco’s Invitational at Bill Battle Coliseum.
USA (5-7) will next begin Sun Belt Conference play when the Jag women travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to take on Middle Tennessee on Friday at 7 p.m.
Game one started out with neither team able to capture more than a two point advantage until the mid-way point of the opener. With the game all square at 15-15, Brittany Blackwelder gave USA the lead again with her third kill of the game. A Colleen Downey ace later stretched the Jag advantage out to 20-16. With South Alabama holding a 26-22 lead, the Lady Colonels (6-9) pushed across four straight points to tie the contest back up at 26-26. USA then ended the match by taking four of the final five points. Blackwelder sealed the 30-27 victory with another put away to put the Jags up 1-0 in the match.
In the second game, South Alabama broke an early 2-2 tie when they reeled off seven straight points. The Jag run was highlighted by two Jennifer Johnson service aces. Nicholls State slowly began to chip away at the USA lead. With the Jags holding a 16-11 advantage, the Lady Colonels reeled off seven straight points to take an 18-16 advantage. The Nicholls State run was aided by four Jaguar attack errors. South Alabama battled back and regained the lead at 26-25 on a Jenna Swilley solo block, but NSU took five of the final six points to even the match up at 1-1 with the 30-27 victory.
NSU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead to open game three, but USA responded back with a 7-1 spurt of its own that was capped off by a block assist from Kalyn Hundley and Blackwelder. With South Alabama leading 14-11, Nicholls State again put together an unanswered run, this time a six point spurt that gave the Colonels a 17-14 advantage. Trailing by three (18-15) Lauren Robbins ignited a 5-0 run that gave USA the lead again at 20-18. NSU again battled back and with the Jags holding a 22-21 lead, pushed across four straight points to grab the led for good. The Colonels went on to take the third game 30-26 and a 2-1 match lead. NSU’s Atina Porter led the way with seven kills in the game.
Holding a one game lead in the match, Nicholls State held the early advantage at 11-8 after a Kindra Halverson kill, but South Alabama slowly began to chip away at the Colonel lead. Trailing 18-15, the Jag women took the lead for the first time in the fourth game after pushing across five unanswered points. The Jag run was highlighted by back-to-back kills from Johnson. After the contest was tied back up at 19-19, Robbins led what would be the eventual game-winning scoring spurt when she recorded three of South Alabama’s next five points during a 5-1 run. USA went on to even the match at 2-2 with the 30-22 victory.
In the finale, South Alabama grabbed a quick 3-1 lead but NSU tied the contest back up at 3-3 after a Jag error. For much of the remainder of game five, the two clubs exchanged points back-and-forth. Tied at 10-10, Nicholls State reeled off four consecutive points to hold match point at 14-10. USA attempted to rally capturing the next two points, but Porter capped off the 15-12 game five win and the 3-2 match victory with her 22nd kill of the night.
NSU’s Porter led all players offensively with a match-high 22 kills on the night. USA placed four players in double figures with Robbins at 16, Swilley at 15 and Blackwelder and Hundley with 10 each. Defensively Shannon VanAntwerp led all players with a match-high 21 digs.
