MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama volleyball team captured its second straight Sun Belt Conference victory Saturday evening when the Jags defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 3-1 at Jag Gym. The back-to-back conference wins mark the first time USA has done so since the 2001 season.
South Alabama improves to 7-10 overall on the season and 2-5 in league play. The Jags will close out their three-match homestand on Sunday when they take on New Orleans (9-10, 3-3 SBC) at 1 p.m. With the loss, ULL falls to 2-20 on the season and 1-6 in the SBC.
“In our pregame talk tonight, I talked to the team about being consistent and seeing if we could play well two nights in a row,” South Alabama volleyball head coach Nicole Keschok said. “I felt tonight we were able to answer the call. Lauren Robbins really stepped up for us tonight playing all the way around and that key for us.”
Robbins recorded seven kills on the night and a career-high 20 digs. As a team, USA had four players record double digit kill tallies led by Juliana Pallamin de Almeida. Joining Almeida in double figures was Hristina Markova (15), Brittany Blackwelder (12) and Jenna Swilley (11). Shannon VanAntwerp also added 21 digs for USA. ULL was paced by Amie Goodwin’s 16 kills and five service aces.
GAME ONE: Louisiana-Lafayette 30, South Alabama 28
In the opener, the big difference was in the serving department. The Ragin’ Cajuns recorded nine of their 12 aces in the opening game, compared to just one from the Jags in game one. With the Jags holding a 17-15 lead after an Almeida kill, the Ragin’ Cajuns reeled off eight of the next 10 points to take a 23-17 lead. During the run, Goodwin recorded four of her service aces. USA did not quit though and with ULL setting just one point away from the game one victory (29-23), the Jags battled back and took five straight points to bring themselves within one at 29-28. On the next point thought, the Ragin’ Cajuns were able to pick up the victory on a Jag service error.
GAME TWO: South Alabama 30, Louisiana-Lafayette 22
South Alabama took control of the game two early on. With the match tied at 3-3, USA pushed across three straight points, two of which came courtesy of a pair of Tereza Bendlova aces. After the Jag spurt, USA never trailed the and went on to even the match up at one game apiece with the 30-22 victory.
GAME THREE: South Alabama 30, Louisiana-Lafayette 26
In the third game of the match, neither team was able to take more than a two point advantage on the other for much of the match. With USA holding a one-point lead at 27-26, the Jags recorded consecutive kills from Robbins, Almeida and Markova to pick up the four-point win.
GAME FOUR: South Alabama 32, Louisiana-Lafayette 30
Sitting just one game away from taking the match heading into game four, South Alabama looked to be in complete control and set just one point away from the match victory (29-22). The Ragin’ Cajuns however decided to make things interesting down the stretch and reeled off seven unanswered points to tie the contest back up at 29-29. The ULL run was aided by five Jaguar attack errors. Still tied at 30-all, Almeida slammed down back-to-back kills to seal the 32-30 victory for South Alabama.
