Box Score - Middle Tennessee 3, South Alabama 1

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team put up a tough fight over the first three sets Friday evening, but Middle Tennessee was able to hold off the Jags and pick up the 3-1 (19-25, 25-19, 20-25, 10-25) victory at Alumni Memorial Gym.

“Tonight, I thought we played much better against Middle Tennessee than we did earlier this year,” South Alabama head coach Nicole Keshock said.   “We competed with them the whole time during the second set and we were able to get the win in it.  We also played well in the third set.  We saw some good things in this match tonight that hopefully we can build on as we head into our match against Western Kentucky tomorrow.  At this point in the season, it is important for our players to keep getting better and not make the same mistakes over and over as we try to reach our goal of making it to the conference tournament.”

With the loss, USA drops to 10-18 overall and 5-8 in the Sun Belt.  The Jags will now travel to Bowling Green, Ky., to take on Western Kentucky on Saturday night at 7 p.m.  The Blue Raiders maintain at least a tie for the top position in the East Division as they improve to 23-5 and 13-1 in the conference.

Offensively, Samia Salomao was one of two South Alabama players to end the night with a double-digit kill tally.  The San Jose Dos Campos, Brazil, native led USA with 15 kills, while Torlandria Jones chipped in with 11 for the Jags. 

Izabella Kozon (MTSU) led all players with 18 kills, while Stacy Oladinni added 10 of her own.

One of the key stats of the match was in the dig department, where the Blue Raiders held a huge advantage over the Jags, 53-28.  South Alabama had entered the match leading the SBC in that category. 

SET ONE: Middle Tennessee 25, South Alabama 19

Over the first portion of the match, the two clubs kept things close with neither able to gain more than a two-point advantage in the first set.  With South Alabama holding a 12-11 lead after a kill from Juliana Almeida, Sasha McGlothin’s kill started a string of four straight-points.  The senior middle blocker added a pair of block assists over the next three points that put the Blue Raiders up 15-12.

Middle Tennessee continued to hold the momentum from there and eventually stretched its lead out to as much as six when McGlothin teamed up with Kozon to record her third block assists –one of her four in the set.

USA made a late charge, cutting the MTSU lead to 22-19 after a Salomao ace and a kill from Olivia Mohler, but the Blue Raiders clinched the set with the final three points to pick up the 25-19 victory.

Middle Tennessee came out hot offensively in the opening set, recording 14 kills on 25 attempts, while committing just two errors for a .480 hitting percentage.  The Blue Raiders entered the match ranked 13th nationally in the attack percentage category.

SET TWO: South Alabama 25, Middle Tennessee 19

In the second set, the Blue Raiders led by three early on, but the Jaguars rattled off five of the next six points and took their first lead of the frame (8-7) after a kill from Almeida and an attack error.  Over the next several points, the two clubs exchanged the lead 3 times with each team gaining as much as a two-point lead on the other. 

South Alabama finally broke a 16-16 tie on a block assists from Almeida and Jaclyn Nickels and a kill from Jessica Lewis.  MTSU was able to get as close as one, the last time coming at 20-19, but USA closed strong, picking up the final five points of the set.  Jones came up huge down the stretch for the Jags as the freshman middle blocker was responsible for four of South Alabama’s final six points, including back-to-back aces that game USA the 25-19 victory.

The second-set victory ended a streak of 22-straight set-losses by the Jags to the Blue Raiders, marking the first time USA had taken a set from Middle Tennessee since the third set of its match in Mobile during the 2006 season.  The win was also just the fifth set ever that South Alabama had taken off of MTSU (Results from the 2003-05 seasons were vacated by Middle Tennessee due to NCAA sanctions.).

The set-loss by the Blue Raiders was just the second time they have dropped a set in their last six home matches.  Florida International is the only other Sun Belt team to have captured a set off Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro this season, as the Blue Raiders hold home-sweeps over league foes Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky, Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette.

SET THREE: Middle Tennessee 25, South Alabama 20

Coming out of the intermission, the Blue Raiders took the early control of the third set, opening the frame up with a 6-1 run, but led by Lewis, South Alabama battled back and knotted the set up at 7-7.  During the scoring spurt for the Jags, the freshman had three of her eight kills in the match.  Jones added the other kill for USA during the run. 

With Middle Tennessee later holding a 14-13 advantage, the Blue Raiders extended their lead out to six, picking up seven of the next nine points.  With MTSU leading 23-17, South Alabama again made a late charge with three-straight points, but like the first set, the Blue Raiders were able to pick up the final two points and take the third set 25-20.

SET FOUR: Middle Tennessee 25, South Alabama 10

Middle Tennessee jumped out to another big lead at the start of the fourth set, this one an 11-2 start, and the Blue Raiders never looked back.  The early MTSU run was highlighted by three kills from Kozon and a pair of Kendall Howard aces.  From there, USA had no answer as Middle Tennessee kept its lead in double figures for the remainder of the frame.  The Blue Raiders closed the match strong, posting a.667 attack percentage, their highest of the night in the 25-10 fourth-set win.

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).