MOBILE, Ala. ? The South Alabama volleyball team saw its rally attempt over Denver come up short Friday night as the Jags fell 3-1 (22-30, 19-30, 33-31, 19-30) to the Pioneers at Jag Gym.
South Alabama (8-14, 2-9 Sun Belt) will now take on North Texas on Saturday night at 7 p.m. With the win, Denver maintains its lead in the West Division and improves to 14-9 overall and 8-2 in the Sun Belt.
The Pioneers’ Kim Muller was one of five players on her club with double figure kill tallies and led all players on the night with a match-high 24 kills. South Alabama outside hitter Hristina Markova and middle blocker Brittany Blackwelder paced the Jags with 17 and 11 kills, respectively, of their own. Freshman setter Maria Kashavelova recorded her second double-double of the season with 48 assists and 12 digs, while senior libero Shannon VanAntwerp had a team-high 16 digs.
GAME ONE: Denver 30, South Alabama 22
In the opener, South Alabama came out strong, grabbing five of the first six points of the match, the last coming on a Hristina Markova kill. Denver battle back and tied the contest back up at 9-9, and then four points later used a 7-1 run to take the lead for good at 17-12 on a Muller ace. USA could draw no closer as the Pioneers went on to take game one, 30-22.
GAME TWO: Denver 30, South Alabama 19
South Alabama again started out strong in the second game of the match, keeping it close early on. Tied at 10-10, Denver’s Alyssa Hampton ignited 7-1 spurt over the next eight points to put the Pioneers up 17-11, a lead they would not relinquish. The Jags did keep fighting and got as close as three on a couple of occasions, the last coming at 21-18 on another Markova put away, but Denver answered right back and ended the game with a 9-1 run to take the second contest, 30-19.
GAME THREE: South Alabama 33, Denver 31
Coming out of the intermission, South Alabama continued to fight and battle the Pioneers. Jenna Swilley gave USA its largest lead of the game (17-13) when the Jag senior slammed down one of her six kills. As was the case for much of the night, Denver answered right back and regained the lead at 26-25 after a Jaguar attack error. With the DU sitting one point away from taking the match at 29-27, USA fought back and tied the contest up two points later to send the game into extra points. Again tied at 31-31, South Alabama was able to take the final two points and cut the Pioneer match lead to 2-1 after two straight DU ball handling errors.
GAME FOUR: Denver 30, South Alabama 19
In the finale, the two clubs kept it close in the early going. With the fourth game of the match tied at 6-6, Denver put the match away with a 12-3 Pioneer run that was capped off by one of Muller’s 24 kills. After the huge run, South Alabama was unable to threaten again and Denver went on to take game four and the match with the 30-19 victory.
