South Alabama 3, Louisiana-Lafayette 1 (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – For the first time this season, the University of South Alabama volleyball team placed four players in double figures as the Jags opened up the Sun Belt Conference portion of their schedule with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-16, 21-25, 25-14) victory over Louisiana-Lafayette Friday evening at Jag Gym.

“It’s a great feeling to get this win tonight, because Louisiana-Lafayette is always a very scrappy team that never gives up,” South Alabama head coach Nicole Keshock said.  “It’s not only a good win to start the conference season, but it’s also a good win against a good Louisiana-Lafayette team.  I’m very proud of our girl’s for accomplishing that tonight.”  

USA (6-7, 1-0 SBC) will continue conference play when it hosts Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday at 5 p.m.

“Louisiana-Monroe is a better team this season and we will have to be prepared to face a different (ULM) team than we have faced in the past,” Keshock said of Saturday’s opponent.  “I think that this whole weekend is about us playing our game.”

Freshman outside hitter Maureen Ros led the way for USA with 14 kills and 11 digs for her first double-double of the season.  Fellow freshman Melissa Waelter also recorded her first career double-double with 11 kills and a career-high 17 digs.  Olivia Moher (11) and Samia Salomao (10) also ended the match in double figures in kills.  With her 11 digs, Salomao posted her team-leading sixth double-double of the season.  Sophomore libero Jenna Hassell added 10 digs of her own.

“We’ve always talked about the fact that we need to have a balanced attack,” Keshock said.  “I think that Katariina (Kananen) did a great job tonight spreading the offense.  When you do that, it keeps the defense on their toes, where they don’t know who to block.”

Kananen finished the match with 47 assists and eight digs.

South Alabama held an advantage in both the hitting and dig departments in the win, as the Jags registered a .243 percentage (57-24-136) compared to just a .157 (39-19-127) by the Ragin’ Cajuns and a 60-45 advantage in digs.

Louisiana-Lafayette falls to 8-9 on the season and 0-1 in the league with the loss.  Lesley Mirarchi paced the club with nine kills, while Kerrilyn Lazare added eight.  ULL setter Mandi Gavin recorded a double-double of her own with 33 assists and 10 digs.

SET ONE: South Alabama 25, Louisiana-Lafayette 23

Over the course of the first set, neither team was able to hold more than a two-point advantage over the other as there were 13 ties and six lead changes.  With ULL sitting two points away from picking up the first set at 23-21 after a kill from Lazare, USA came out of a time out and closed strong with four unanswered points to comeback and capture the first set, 25-23.  Ros led the charge for USA as she had three kills over the four final points for the.

Ros came out on fire in the opening set, recording five of her kills during the frame.  Salomao also aided the cause, finishing the set with four kills of her own. 

SET TWO: South Alabama 25, Louisiana-Lafayette 16

After struggling a bit during the opening set, South Alabama found its rhythm in the second set as the Jag offense recorded 13 kills on 29 attacks, while committing just four errors for a .310 attack percentage. 

Leading by one early at 3-2, USA broke things open with an 8-1 run.  Ros continued her strong play with another ace to ignite the scoring run.  Waelter later added two kills of her own and USA took an 11-3 lead when Lea Thurm and Waelter combined to turn back a shot from Lazare. 

The Jaguars continued to control the frame from that point on as they never allowed ULL to get any closer that five, before cruising to the 25-16 victory.  Mohler sealed the nine-point win when the Vancleave, Miss., native dropped in one of her 11 kills on the night.  As it would all night, USA used a balanced attack as Waelter had four kills and Mohler and Ros each chipped in with three apiece. 

SET THREE: Louisiana-Lafayette 25, South Alabama 21

Coming out of the intermission and trailing 2-0 in the match would record its best offensive showing of the night and hit a .229 in the third set.  Like set one, the two clubs remained close for most of the frame until with USA holding a 10-9 lead after a kill from Waelter, the Cajuns were able to push across six-straight points and take a 15-10 lead after a pair of Jaguar attack errors.

Later still trailing by six (21-15) after an ace from Caitlin Auxilien, South Alabama began to mount a comeback.  After a pair of ULL errors, Mohler, Salomao and Kananen each registered kills for USA and after a bad set, the Jags had narrowed the deficit to 22-21. 

Coming out of a time out though, the Ragin’ Cajuns ended the comeback attempt and picked up the final three points of the set.  Taylor Meade’s attack found the bottom of the court and after block assists from Lazare and Blair Claypoole, Louisiana-Lafayette held on to trim the match deficit to 2-1 and take the third set, 25-22, on another Lazare put away.

SET FOUR:  South Alabama 25, Louisiana-Lafayette 14

In the final set, South Alabama broke open a close contest when Mohler’s kill snapped a 10-10 tie and began a 7-1 run for the Jags over the next eight points.  Thurm also added a pair of kills during the pivotal run for USA, while Kananen added two aces to cap things off and give the Jaguars a 17-11 advantage. 

Thurm came up big in the fourth set, recording four of her eight kills during the frame and two of her four block assists.

From there, South Alabama would go on to close the set by taking eight of the final 11 points en route to picking up the 25-14 set win.  Waelter clinched the 11-point victory and the match when the Arnsberg, Germany native’s kill found the court in the back row.

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:  With the win, USA has now won two-straight Sun Belt openers and improves to 5-16 in that category.   South Alabama also captured its 10th win in the series versus Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday night.  The last time, USA placed four players in double figures in kills was Oct. 1, 2010 in a 3-2 victory versus UALR.  The double-doubles for Maureen Ros and Melissa Waelter were the first of their careers, while Samia Salomao’s was her team-leading sixth of the season and 19th of her career.

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