RUSTON, La. - The University of South Alabama volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday at the Lady Techster Tournament held at the Thomas Assembly Center.  The Jags picked up a 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 25-18) victory over Tennessee-Martin in its opening match, but fell to the host Lady Techsters 3-0 (25-20, 27-25, 25-22) in the night cap.

"I had high expectations for our team heading into this weekend, because of our depth and the way that we had practiced," South Alabama head coach Nicole Keshock said.  "We came out ready to play each of the first three matches, but tonight for some reason weren't ready to play.  I feel our team learned a lot about itself tonight.  Overall, I thought the tournament was great for us, because I think in each match, we got progressively better."

USA (3-1) will return to action next weekend (Sept. 4-5) when the Jags head to Athens, Ga., to compete at the Georgia Dawg Invitational.  South Alabama will open tournament play with Tennessee State on Friday and then face Duke and Georgia on Saturday.

Louisiana Tech captured the tournament championship and improved to 3-1 on the season with the win over USA, while in the earlier match, Tennessee-Martin - who finished third - fell to 3-1 with the loss to the Jags.

With the three wins, South Alabama still finished second at the tournament, and both Lindsay Schwartz and Jennica Hagberg were each named to the all-tournament team. 
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MATCH ONE: SOUTH ALABAMA 3, TENNESSEE- MARTIN 1

In the first match of the day for the Jags, Juliana Almeida and Tereza Bendlova led the way offensively, finishing with 17 and 15 kills, respectively.  Almeida also recorded a match- and career-high 19 digs to give her her second-straight and ninth double-double of her career.  Jag freshmen Olivia Mohler and Lea Thurm also ended the afternoon with eight kills of their own, while Schwartz as a force up front, posting eight block assists. 

USA's Kari Frazier (14) and Samia Salomao (12) also registered double figure dig tallies in the win.  Hagberg did an excellent of running the Jaguar offense and posted a career-best 51 assists.

Tennessee-Martin's Lauren Montague also ended the match with a double-double - 13 kills and 12 digs.

South Alabama 25, Tennessee-Martin 19

In the opening set, South Alabama raced out to a quick 5-0 lead and never looked back.  Almeida got things going early and slammed home one of her 17 kills in the match to record USA's first point.  Following a kill by Schwartz and a pair of Tennessee-Martin attack errors, the Jags took their largest lead of the set at 13-4.  UTM tried to hang claw its way back, pulling to within four on five occasions down the stretch, but Mohler and Pratt gave South Alabama the six-point victory (25-19) when the freshmen each slammed home a kill of their own.

Tennessee-Martin 25, South Alabama 20

South Alabama got off to another hot start in the second set, grabbing five of the first six points.  Tennessee-Martin though answered right back with a run of its own, this one a 9-2 spurt that saw the Skyhawks take a 10-7 lead.  During the UTM run, Britany Wilburn provided most of the offense, recording three of her eight kills.  Almeida pulled USA to within one (11-10), but that was as close as the Jags got the rest of the way.  Tennessee Martin pushed across five of the final six points of the set to take the 25-20 victory and even the match at 1-1.

South Alabama 25, Tennessee-Martin 21

The third set stayed close until with USA leading by just one at 18-17, Hagberg dumped in a kill to start a 5-1 spurt that opened up some breathing room for the Jags.  Mohler capped the mini-run off with another put away that increased the South Alabama lead to 23-18.  Five points later, the Vancleave, Miss., native sealed the 25-21 win when she slammed home another kill.

South Alabama 25, Tennessee-Martin 18

Leading 2-1 heading into the fourth set, South Alabama kept to momentum and jumped out to a early 5-2 advantage over the Skyhawks.  From that point on, USA did not relinquish the lead.  Still holding a four-point advantage (14-10) later in the set, the Jags rattled off a eight of the next 11 points to increase its margin to nine.  From that point on, South Alabama cruised home to take the set and the match with a 25-18 victory.  Almeida, who had scored the first point of the match, clinched the Jaguar victory when the junior outside hitter blasted her final kill of the day.  

MATCH TWO: LOUISIANA TECH 3, SOUTH ALABAMA 0

In the final match of the tournament, South Alabama's 28 attack errors proved costly as the Jags came up short as the host Lady Techsters picked up the straight-set victory.  Louisiana Tech was led by Nataliya Panova's 13 kills and 10 digs, while Schwartz also notched 13 kills of her own.  Almeida had her second double-double of the day with a 10 kill, 11 dig performance.  Terzea Bendlova also chipped in with 10 kills and eight digs of her own.

Louisiana Tech 25, South Alabama 20

In the opener, La. Tech came out on fire reeling off a 12-4 run to start the match.  During the opening run, South Alabama didn't help its cause, as the Jags committed six attack errors during that stretch.  USA kept battling though and pulled to within three (15-12) on a Schwartz ace, but the Lady Techsters pushed the Jag deficit back out to 20-13 with another scoring spurt.  From that point on, USA was unable to chip into the La. Tech advantage.  K.C. Clayton gave the Techsters the 25-20 victory with a kill.

Louisiana Tech 27, South Alabama 25

Again attack errors proved costly for the Jags early on in the second set as USA committed three within the first eight points.  Louisiana Tech took advantage of the Jaguar mistakes and grabbed a 7-2 lead on a Ponova put away.  South Alabama kept fighting and eventually knotted the set back up at 10-10 on another kill from Schwartz.  With the Jags trailing 19-17, Schwartz and Bendlova combined to record three-straight points and gave USA its first lead of the match at 20-19.   Two points later, Schwartz again slammed home another kill to increase South Alabama's advantage to 23-20. 

A kill from Samantha Crowder and two more Jaguar attack errors, however tied the set back up at 23-all three points later.  South Alabama later set at set-point on two occasions, the last coming after an Almeida kill, but with USA holding a 25-24 lead, the Jags committed three consecutive errors - one service error and two attack errors - to help the Lady Techsters take a 2-0 lead in the match with the 27-25 victory. 

Louisiana Tech 25, South Alabama 22

In the third and final set, Louisiana Tech broke an early 5-5 tied with five-straight points, the last coming on a Jennifer Goodwin ace.  Trailing 15-13, Bendlova led another Jag rally and tied the contest back up at 15 with back-to-back kills.  Two points later, Kari Frazier put USA out in front with an ace.  The remainder of the set saw the two teams battle back and forth with neither able to gain more than a two-point lead on the other, until the final three points.  Panova and fellow Lady Techster Kara Jones clinched the match and gave La. Tech the 25-22 victory when the duo blocked an Almeida shot.

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).

NOTES: The Jags have now started the season 3-1 each of the last three seasons and four of the last five...Sophomores Lindsay Schwartz and Jennica Hagberg were each named to the all-tournament team...In four matches, Schwartz recorded a team-high 18 block assists and six aces, while Hagberg had 143 assists (11.00 per set)...For the tournament, USA's Juliana Almeida led the Jaguar attack with 3.38 kills per set....Almeida also had three double-doubles in the tournament, giving her 10 for her career.

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