CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Behind junior outside hitter Tereza Bendlova’s 12 kills, the University of South Alabama volleyball team picked up a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 29-27) sweep of Alabama A&M in its final match of the Country Inn & Suites Challenge held at Maclellan Gym.

The Jags improve to 3-2 with the win and will play in its second tournament of the fall next weekend when they head to Prairie View, Texas to compete in the Lady Panther Invitational (Sept. 12-13).   South Alabama will take on Texas Southern, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and tourney host Prairie View A&M.

Along with Bendlova, senior middle blocker Brittany Blackwelder chipped in with 10 kills, while Lindsay Schwartz and Juliana Almeida added nine and eight kills, respectively. 

Madinah Abdullah led the Lady Bulldogs with 10 kills of her own.

SET ONE:  SOUTH ALABAMA 25, ALABAMA A&M 15

South Alabama came out in the opening set of match two and jumped out to a quick 9-3 lead.  The early Jaguar run was aided by six Lady Bulldog attack errors.  USA kept control the remainder of the set, allowing AAMU to only pull within five, before going on to take the 10 point victory at 25-15.  Bendlova continued her strong play from the first match, notching five kills to lead the Jags in the opening set.  As a team, USA hit .263, compared to Alabama A&M’s -.028.

SET TWO: SOUTH ALABAMA 25, ALABAMA A&M 16

In the second set, South Alabama kept things rolling.  Tied early on at 7-7, the Jaguar offense got things going with a 9-1 run over the next 10 points.  During the scoring spurt, the Jags offense recorded eight kills, three of which coming off the arm of Juliana Almeida.  After the run from USA, the Bulldogs could not answer as South Alabama went on to take the 25-16 set win.  Almeida capped off the victory when the San Jose Dos Campos Brazil native slammed down her fifth kill of the set.

SET THREE: SOUTH ALABAMA 29, ALABAMA A&M 27

 In what proved to be the most contested set of the match, both Alabama A&M and South Alabama each held a four point lead early on.  Leading 16-13, USA looked as if it was going to finish the match strong, but the Lady Bulldogs kept hanging around and capitalizing on Jaguar miscues.   With USA leading 23-20 late, Alabama A&M reeled off four straight points to retake the lead and sit just one point away from taking its first set of the match.  Bendlova kept things alive though with a kill of her own.  The two clubs went back-and-forth for the remainder of the match until with things tied up at 27-27, South Alabama was able to take the final two points, including another kill from Bendlova, her 12th of the match to give USA the 29-27 win and complete the sweep.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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