Box Score - Central Arkansas 3, South Alabama 1 (.pdf)
Box Score - South Alabama 3, Southern Miss 0 (.pdf)
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team dropped its first match on Friday to Central Arkansas (3-1), but bounced back to sweep Southern Miss (3-0) in the night cap of the Southern Miss Invitational held at the Reed Green Coliseum.
USA will close out the tournament on Saturday when the Jags take on Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m. Live stats can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com.
MATCH ONE: Central Arkansas 3, South Alabama 1
In the opening match of the tournament, Central Arkansas picked up a 3-1 victory (25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19) in the Jags’ season opener.
The Bears (1-0) were solid on the offensive end of the court as they finished with 64 kills and hit a .345, while only recording 14 attack errors in the four-set match. After getting off to a bit of a slow start offensively in the first set, USA (0-1) bounced back to finish with a .225 and recorded just 17 errors and 48 kills.
“We played a very good team today in Central Arkansas. They returned pretty much their entire line up from a year ago and they didn’t make many errors,” South Alabama head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. “We actually played a pretty clean match, but they were just cleaner than we were. We saw some nice things in our match. (Central Arkansas) actually helped us learn what we need to improve on and we’re moving on to the next match of the season.”
South Alabama held a huge advantage at the defensive net, posting 14 blocks (two solo and 12 assists). Senior middle blocker Olivia Mohler led the way with six blocks (1 BS, 5 BA), while fellow senior Katariina Kananen had four block assists of her own to go along with her 41 assists and nine digs.
Lindsay Schwartz, playing in her first match since the 2009 season, had an outstanding match, finishing with a team-best 14 kills and a .423 hitting percentage. Sophomore Melissa Waelter also recorded double figures with 12 kills and posted her fifth-career double-double with 10 digs. True freshman Savannah Stewart nearly registered a double-double of her own, finishing with eight kills and nine digs.
Central Arkansas was paced by Jessica Nagy’s match-high 17 kills. Nagy also led the way with a .452 attack percentage. Jessica Hays (11) and Scout Brooks (10) also finished with double-figure kill tallies. Shelbee Berringer chipped in with 17 digs from the back court.
SET ONE: Central Arkansas 25, South Alabama 19
Central Arkansas got off to a quick start in the opening set of the match, as the Bears reeled off the first five points. Trailing 10-6, the Jags battled back and rattled off five-straight points of their own to take an 11-10 lead on a Jenna Hassell service ace.
The lead was short-lived for South Alabama though as the Bears answered right back with four unanswered points of their own, the final three coming after three-straight kills from Heather Schnars to push UCA back out to a 14-11 advantage. Schnarrs, Brooks and Nagy led the way offensively for Central Arkansas during the first set, combining for 13 of the Bears’ 19 put aways in the opening set.
The Bears held control for the remainder of the set and eventually took the early match lead with a 25-19 victory.
Central Arkansas was extremely efficient on the offensive side of the net as it posted a .471 attack percentage (19-3-34), while USA was only able to record a .156 (9-4-32).
SET TWO: Central Arkansas 25, South Alabama 20
The second set was tight throughout as neither team gained more than a four-point advantage on the other. Marissa Collins and Brooks gave the Bears a 13-9 lead after the duo recorded back-to-back kills.
USA would battle back and tie the contest back up at 15-15 after an ace from Mohler and on the next point take the lead following a kill from Waelter. Waelter recorded five of her 12 kills during the second set.
With the two clubs tied at 19-19 – the 12th tie of the frame – several points later, UCA closed strong and took the lead for good after a Jaguar service error. Following the tie, the Bears would go on to pick up six of the final seven points.
Down the stretch, Stewart narrowed the deficit to 22-20 after slamming home one of her eight kills in the match, but Nagy clinched the second-set victory with two-straight kills of her own and a solo block to hand Central Arkansas the 25-20 win and put t he Bears up 2-0 in the match.
For the second consecutive set, Central Arkansas hit over a .400, finishing the frame with a .486 with 17 kills on 35 attacks and no errors. South Alabama improved on the offensive side as well, finishing the second set with a .306 (15-4-36).
SET THREE: South Alabama 25, Central Arkansas 22
Unlike the first two sets, South Alabama was able to take the lead early on, holding as much as a three-point advantage. Trailing 5-3 though, Central Arkansas put together a run of seven unanswered points to jump out to a five-point lead, 10-5. Taylor Hammond capped off the scoring for the Bears with a kill of her own. Nagy and Brooks also had two kills apiece during the Central Arkansas run.
UCA held control over the next several points, but USA continued to battle back and chip away at the deficit. South Alabama eventually tied the set back up at 14-14 after back-to-back kills from Schwartz and Stewart. Schwartz then put the Jags back out in front (16-15) with two more kills. Schwartz was the offensive leader for South Alabama in the set recording five kills and hitting and .833.
With USA later leading 18-16, UCA came right back with three consecutive points to take a one-point lead, but the Jags tied the contest back up on another kill from Stewart and then took the lead for good on a Mohler kill. Later in the set, Schwartz sealed the 25-22 victory for the Jags with her 11th kill of the afternoon.
The defensive block proved valuable in the third set for the Jaguars as they posted five in the frame. Prior to the start of the set, USA had recorded just two block assists.
SET FOUR: Central Arkansas 25, South Alabama 20
After picking up its first set victory of the season, South Alabama held an early 8-5 advantage in the fourth set after a pair of block assists from the duo of Kananen and Mohler.
UCA had the answer though and reeled off three-straight points of its own to tie the frame up and then grabbed the lead (9-8) after another Jaguar attack error. The Bears later pushed the margin out to three (16-13) after another kill from Nagy. Nagy finished the frame with seven of her 17 kills in the finale. From there, Central Arkansas closed out strong and took the set 25-19 to pick up the match victory. Jessica Hays capped off the Bear victory with a pair of service aces.
MATCH TWO: South Alabama 3, Southern Miss 0
South Alabama was able to pick up its first victory of the season in the night cap as the Jags swept Conference USA foe Southern Miss, 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-22) in its second match of the Southern Miss Invitational.
“We were able to get ahead early tonight which is one of the things we talked about after our match earlier today,” Hendrichovsky said. “We didn’t’ want to play from behind like we did in our first match. (Southern Miss) has a lot more youth on it, so out mentality was that we were going to use our experience against them.”
The win was not only the first of the season for USA (1-1) but also a special one for the first-year Jaguar head coach as it was the first of her head coaching career.
“Tonight was a great win,” Hendrichovsky stated. “We played clean tonight and the match was fun to watch and entertaining. I’m really proud of our girls. They’ve been working really hard and it was fun to watch them play well tonight.”
Olivia Mohler led the way offensively for the Jaguars as she finished the night with 12 kills on 15 attacks and committed just one attack error to give her an outstanding .733 hitting percentage - the second-best percentage in a single match by a player in the program's history. Mohler also added four blocks (one solo, three assists). Like the first match of the day, the block was a huge asset for USA versus the Golden Eagles as the Jags finished with two solo blocks and 14 block assists. Lindsay Schwartz (one solo block, three block assists) and Torlandria Jones (four block assists) were also solid at the net for the Jags.
Savannah Stewart added 10 kills for USA and junior libero Jenna Hassell posted 18 digs in the back court. Jag setter Katariina Kananen added 39 assists.
USM (0-1) was paced offensively Jasmine Crowell’s 13 kills.
The win was the first for the Jags versus the Golden Eagles since the 2006 season and just the second in the last 13 meetings of the series dating back to 1996.
SET ONE: South Alabama 25, Southern Miss 16
In the opening set of the evening match, South Alabama led by two (8-6) early on after back-to-back kills from Torlandria Jones. The tourney host Golden Eagles though put together a string of four-straight points and took a 10-8 lead after a Jaguar attack error. Crowell led provided the scoring for USM as she had three kills in the early going.
Trailing 12-9 after Crowell’s fourth kill of the frame, USA rallied back and captured five of the next six points. Mohler capped off the run and put the Jags out in front (14-13) with a kill of her own.
South Alabama later extended the lead to 16-14 after two more kills from the Vancleave, Miss., native. Following a time out by Southern Miss, the Jaguars kept the run going as Waelter blasted a kill of her own. Stewart then dropped in a pair of aces, forcing USM to call its second time out of the frame.
Waelter later capped off the run of nine unanswered points for USA with another put away to give South Alabama a 23-14 advantage. The 5-10 sophomore outside hitter registered five of her eight kills in the opening set. Mohler also chipped in with five in the first frame. USM would end the run with a pair of points, but Hassel sealed the 25-16 victory for USA with an ace – one of three aces for the Jags in the set.
SET TWO: South Alabama 25, Southern Miss 22
Neither team was able to pull away from the other for most of the second set as neither held more than a three-point advantage on the other. Trailing by one at 16-15 after a Jaguar attack error, USA was able to retake the lead on the strength of three-straight points. Waelter gave South Alabama the 18-16 advantage with another put away.
Following a time out to try and stop the Jag momentum, USM came right back with three consecutive points of its own and retook the lead (19-18) when Quinci Heyward and Elisa Aimes teamed up to record a block assist.
Later in the set, Crowell – who had four kills in the frame – tied things back up at 22-22 with a kill, but the USM sophomore then committed a pair of attack errors to put USA one point away from going up 2-0 in the match. Stewart clinched the set and game the Jags
Southern Miss didn’t help itself in the second set as the Golden Eagles as they recorded a .031 hitting percentage after hitting over .300 in the opening set.
SET THREE: South Alabama 25, Southern Miss 22
In the third set, USA trailed by two early on (7-5), but Mohler and Kananen ignited a mini-run of four points for the Jags. The duo began the scoring with a kill each and then teamed up for a pair of block assists to give USA a 9-7 lead. USA eventually extended the lead to 13-10 following block assists from Schwartz and Jones.
With South Alabama still holding a three-point advantage (15-12) after a kill from Schwartz, Southern Miss was able to pull within one after a kill from Crowell. USM though could not get the next point to tie the set up as the Golden Eagles committed a ball-handling error.
USA looked to be in control, stretching its lead out to as much as four three times, the last coming at 22-18 on another kill from Schwartz.
The Golden Eagles – led by the offensive play of Crowell who added two more kills and a Jaguar attack error – again trimmed the deficit to one (22-21). USM would get no closer though as Schwartz answered with a kill and Mohler turned back a shot. USA picked up the final point of the match and took the 25-22 victory following a Southern Miss service error.
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 loss to Central Arkansas in the opening match of the tournament, marked the third-straight season South Alabama has dropped its season-opener… Lindsay Schwartz, playing in her first match since the 2009 season, had an outstanding match versus the Bears, finishing with a team-best 14 kills and a .423 hitting percentage…The victory versus Southern Miss not only marked the first of the year for the Jags, but also the first career victory for Jag coach Amy Hendrichovsky as a head coach…The win was the first for the Jags versus the Golden Eagles since the 2006 season and just the second in the last 13 meetings of the series dating back to 1996…The sweep was also the first time USA has swept USM since the 1995 season…The .733 percentage (12-1-15) by senior middle blocker Olivia Mohler was the second-best percentage in a single match by a player in the program's history...Through the first two matches, Mohler has recorded 10 total blocks…As a team, USA has four solo blocks and 26 block assists.
-- USA --
