MOBILE, Ala. ? The South Alabama volleyball team dropped its second straight conference match Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 (26-30, 17-30, 21-30) loss to Sun Belt East Division foe Western Kentucky at Jag Gym.

With the loss USA falls to 5-7 on the season and 0-2 in the Sun Belt, while the Lady Toppers improve to 13-3 overall and 2-0 in the league.  The Jags will continue conference play Monday night when they take on in-state foe Troy on the road at 7 p.m.

USA’s Hristina Markova and Brittany Blackwelder led the Jags offensively in the match with 10 and nine kills, respectively.  Megan Argabright (17) and Aquila Orr (13) paced WKU in that category.

GAME ONE: Western Kentucky 30, South Alabama 26

Game one of the match was a tight for much of the contest with neither team able to hold more than a three point lead on the other.  With the Jags holding a 26-23 lead in the game after a Markova kill, Lady Topper setter Julia Noe dropped in a kill of her own to ignite a 7-0 run to end the game.  Noe then recorded her second ace of the run to end the first game and put Western up 1-0 in the match.

GAME TWO: Western Kentucky 30, South Alabama 17

The second game was the exact opposite of the first with WKU taking control from the start.  After a couple of Jaguar errors, the Hilltoppers held a 14-2 lead and never looked back.  USA was able to trim the deficit to eight at 19-11 after a pair of Western Kentucky attack errors, but that was as close as South Alabama got.  Argabright later sealed the 30-17 victory for WKU with back-to-back kills.

GAME THREE: Western Kentucky 30, South Alabama 21

After trailing by as many as six early on in the finale, South Alabama clawed its way back and cut the Western Kentucky advantage to as few as two on a couple occasions, the last coming at 17-15, but again the Jags could draw no closer.  Holding a 25-21 lead late, Western Kentucky again closed strong, reeling off the final five points of the match, the final four coming on four consecutive Jaguar attack errors.