Box Score - Texas-Arlington 3, South Alabama 0 (.pdf)
ARLINGTON, Texas – The University of South Alabama women's volleyball team fell 3-0 (21-25, 16-25, 22-25) on the road to Texas-Arlington at the College Park Center Friday night.
USA (7-11, 2-6 SBC) will face Texas State at Strahan Coliseum at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Live stats and video will be available at www.USAJaguars.com.
Jessica Lewis led all players with 12 kills in the loss and hit .321 in her 28 attacks. The freshman outside hitter also had seven digs and a block assists. Mallory Moore also chipped in with nine, while Mechell Daniel had seven. Freshman libero Abby Baker set a new career-best with 23 digs for the Jaguars and Kelley Little added 10 digs of her own.
Charmaine Whitmore paced Texas Arlington (12-9, 5-3 SBC) offensively in the win with eight kills. Whitmore also added a solo block and four block assists. Stacey Koch and Hannah Baptiste also had seven kills apiece for UTA, while Ashley Bennett and Shelby Dickson each had six kills of their own. Dickson also paced the club with 14 digs. Amanda Walsh and Caitlyn Cooney each had 11 digs as well.
UTA – which entered the week leading the Sun Belt in blocking – held a huge advantage in that category as the Mavericks had 18 total blocks (one solo and 17 assists), while the Jags finished with two solo blocks and eight block assists.
SET ONE: TEXAS-ARLINGTON 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 21
UTA led by three on two occasions early on in the first set, but South Alabama fought back and retook the lead at 15-14 after a Maverick ball-handling error.
Tied at 18-18 following a kill from Daniel, Texas-Arlington took the lead for good as the Mavericks pushed across four of the next five points to take a 22-19 advantage. Bennett gave UTA the three-point lead with a kill.
The Mavericks held on to take the early lead in the match with the 25-21 first-set win.
SET TWO: TEXAS-ARLINGTON 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 16
After picking up the opening set, UTA jumped out to a quick six-point lead after picking up six of the first nine points. Taylor Gross had a pair of kills during the spurt for the Mavericks.
From there, Texas-Arlington held control for the remainder of the set, as the Mavs went on to pick up the 25-16 second-set victory.
UTA had 18 kills on 41 attacks with just three errors for a .366 hitting percentage.
SET THREE: TEXAS-ARLINGTON 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 22
Trailing two sets to none in the match, South Alabama got off to a fast start, taking three of the first four points. USA's first three points came courtesy of three kill from Lewis.
USA later led 8-5 after kills from Lewis and Symone Stephenson, but Texas-Arlington came back and tied the contest back up after kills from Stacey Koch and Whitmore.
With the Jaguars later still holding a three-point advantage (12-9) after kills from Lewis, Moore and Deanna Canfield, the Mavericks answered back with four unanswered points of their own and took their first lead of the frame after a solo block from Whitmore and a trio block assists from Gross, Whitmore and Baptiste.
Tied at 18-18 after Lewis' seventh kill of the set, UTA pushed across the next two points and took the lead for good. Gross later clinched the set and the match with her fifth kill of the evening, giving the Mavericks the 25-22 win.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
NOTES: South Alabama is now 0-2 in the all-time series with Texas-Arlington. Friday night's match was the first in the series since the 1995 season. USA and UTA will also face each other on Nov. 8 when the Mavericks travel to Mobile. The 23 digs by freshman libero Abby Baker was a new career-high. The seven kills by Mechell Daniel marked snapped a streak of 11-straight double-figure kill matches for the freshman. It was also tied for the second-fewest by her this season.
—USA—
