Sun Belt Conference Tournament Notes (.pdf)
MOBILE, Ala. – The eighth-seeded University of South Alabama will open up play in the 2010 Sun Belt Conference Championships on Thursday when the Jags take on top-seeded and tourney host Middle Tennessee. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Alumni Memorial Gym.
“At the beginning of the season we set the goal of making the conference tournament,” South Alabama head coach Nicole Keshock said. “Now that we have accomplished our goal, we have new goals to accomplish in the tournament. Our first obstacle is Middle Tennessee. We have played them competitively this season. They are the top team in the conference and they have lots of weapons and are very balanced. It’ll be important for us to try to get them out of system and focus on controlling each of their hitters. They are definitely an offensive oriented team and our defense will have to come ready to play against them.”
All matches will be available on the web as part of SBC Extra. Fans can purchase a tournament pass for only $9.95 to tune-in. The championship match at 3 p.m. (CT) will also be broadcast by the Sun Belt Network (times subject to change due to television demands). Live stats for all of the matches will be available at www.sunbeltsports.org.
The Jaguars enter the Sun Belt tournament as the eighth seed after finishing the regular season with an 11-20 mark and a 6-10 league record. The tournament appearance will be the second in the last three years for South Alabama and the 16th overall.
USA earned the berth in the league tourney with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory on the road at Florida Atlantic on Friday. South Alabama faced a 2-0 deficit in the match after dropping the first two sets, but rallied back to pick up the final three sets for the win.
As they have for much of the season, the Jags continue to be led offensively by the duo of Juliana Almeida and Samia Salomao. Almeida leads the club with 2.68 kills per set and ranks third on the team in digs with 2.68 per set. She has had eight double-doubles this year. Salomao is averaging 2.68 kps and 3.31 dps and has a team-best 13 double-doubles this season. Both Almeida and Salomao came up big in the win over FAU as they each posted 19 kills for USA.
As a team, the Jaguars rank third in the Sun Belt in digs with 15.24 per set. Freshman libero Jenna Hassell has been a key to the defensive play in the back court for USA as she has 3.55 digs per set - ninth in the SBC. Hassell is just two digs shy of eclipsing the 400 dig mark this season and with those two digs, she will become just the seventh player to have over 400 in a single-season and just the second since the 1990 season.
The Blue Raiders come into the tournament as the top seed after capturing the regular-season title with a 3-0 sweep of Western Kentucky last week. With the win, Middle Tennessee improved to 25-5 on the season and finished league play with a 15-1 record and extended its win streak to eight matches. Since early September, MTSU has lost us one time in its last 23 matches.
The trio of Izabela Kozon (4.55 kps), Ashley Adams (3.66 kps) and Maria Szivos (3.11kps) continue to lead the way offensively. So far this season, Kozon - who ranks 27th nationally in kills - has been named the league’s player of the week five times, while Adams and Szivos have each received the honor once.
As a team, the Blue Raiders rank among the NCAA leaders in several categories. The club is hitting .291 coming into the tournament, which ranks ninth in the nation. Individually, junior Lindsey Cheatham’s .399 hitting percentage is 14th-best in the NCAA.
MTSU also ranks 27th in kills per set (14.09), blocks per set (29th) and assists per set (13.04)
Middle Tennessee holds a 14-0 record in the all-time series. The two teams have met three other times, but those wins had to be vacated by the Blue Raiders as a result of NCAA penalties. MTSU swept both meetings earlier this season. MTSU and South Alabama have met in the league tournament just once with the Blue Raiders holding a 1-0 record against USA in that one meeting.
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: South Alabama holds an 11-28 all-time record in the Sun Belt tournament. The appearance will mark the second in the last three years and the 16th overall for the Jags. USA has faced Middle Tennessee (0-1), Western Kentucky (1-4), Florida International (0-2) and Arkansas State (0-1) before in the tournament. The Jaguars have never take on North Texas, Denver or Louisiana-Lafayette in the post season.
-- USA --