Box Score - Middle Tennessee 3, South Alabama 0

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (19-25, 19-25, 18-25) decision to Sun Belt Conference East Division leader Middle Tennessee Sunday afternoon at Jaguar Gym. 

“I thought in sets one and two that there were specific moments when we let Middle Tennessee go on too long of run that kind of took us out of it,”  South Alabama head coach Nicole Keshock said.  “In set three, we just self destructed and committed way too many errors at the beginning.”

USA (8-13, 3-3 SBC) will now begin a three-match SBC road swing on Friday when the Jags travel to take on in-state rival Troy at 7 p.m.  With the win, Middle Tennessee extends its win-streak to 13 and improves to 17-4 overall and 8-0 in the league.

The Jags were led offensively by Juliana Almeida’s eight kills.  Jessica Lewis also chipped in with six kills of her own.  Middle Tennessee was paced by Maria Szivos’ match-high 10 kills.

SET ONE: Middle Tennessee 25, South Alabama 19

The Blue Raiders held the early momentum as they opened the match, picking up five of the first six points.

Trailing by four (7-3) after a kill from Ashley Adams, South Alabama pushed across four of the next five points to cut the deficit to 8-7.  Samia Salomao began the scoring for USA with a kill and then capped the run off with an ace.

The Jags were able to hang around over the next several points, but holding a 12-10 advantage, the Blue Raiders broke the set open with seven unanswered points.  Sasha McGlothin ignited the scoring with a pair of kills and Izabela Kozon and Szivos later capped off the run with back-to-back kills of their own to put Middle Tennessee up 19-10. 

South Alabama was able to get as close as five on a couple of occasions down the stretch, but Kozon sealed the 25-19 victory with one of her six first-set put aways.  For the set, the Blue Raiders were very efficient on the offensive end, recording a .371 attack percentage.

SET TWO: Middle Tennessee 25, South Alabama 19

In the second set, South Alabama held an early two-point advantage (7-5), but coming out of a time out, the Blue Raiders regained the lead with a string of five-straight points.  During the scoring spurt Ashley Adams had a pair of kills and Szivos had two aces for MTSU.

The Jags kept fighting over the next several points and were able to trim the deficit to one on a couple of occasions, the last coming at 14-13 after a Salomao kill.  On the next point though, Szivos started another run of answered points for the Blue Raiders, this one a 6-0 spurt.  USA didn’t help itself during the run as it committed five attack errors.

From that point on, Middle Tennessee maintained control and took a 2-0 lead in the match with the 25-19 set-two win.

SET THREE: Middle Tennessee 25, South Alabama 18

USA pushed across four-straight points early in the third set and took a 7-4 lead after a kill from Salomao.  Middle Tennessee didn’t allow the Jags to enjoy the momentum long though as the Blue Raiders answered with a 9-1 run.  Szivos keyed the MTSU scoring, as the junior outside hitter had a kill, two block assists and her back-to-back services aces gave the Blue Raiders a 13-8 advantage.  South Alabama could only get as close as five the rest of the way, as Middle Tennessee held on to win the set, 25-18.

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).