Matches 20-21 - vs. Texas State and vs. Louisiana-Lafayette Match Notes (.pdf)
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's volleyball team returns home this weekend to begin the second half of the Sun Belt Conference schedule as the Jaguars welcome Texas State and Louisiana-Lafayette to Jag Gym. First serve versus the Bobcats is set for Friday at 7 p.m., while USA will take on the Ragin' Cajuns on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Live stats and video for both matches this weekend will be available at www.USAJaguars.com.
The Jaguars (7-12, 2-7 SBC) return home this weekend after falling in straight sets at Texas-Arlington and in five sets at Texas State on Sunday.
The freshman duo of Mechell Daniel and Jessica Lewis continue to lead the club offensively as they rank third and fifth, respectively in kills and third and seventh in points. Daniel is averaging 3.69 kills and 4.25 points per set and Lewis is averaging 3.19 kills and 3.49 points per set. Daniel also ranks fifth in serving.
Lewis is coming off her third Sun Belt Freshman of the Week award. This past weekend, Lewis recorded 31 kills and had her first career double-double versus the Bobcats on Sunday with 19 kills and a career-high 15 digs.
Daniel has twice earned top freshman honors this season.
Fellow freshman Mallory Moore has also played well, as she is averaging 2.24 kills per set.
As a team, South Alabama is averaging 12.38 kills per set and hitting .204, which is currently tied for fifth in the league with Texas-Arlington.
The Jags also rank fifth in the conference in blocks with 1.96 per set. However, USA has been even better in Sun Belt play as it is averaging 2.50 per set, which is third-highest. Leading the way individually in that category is junior middle blocker Amber Wyatt. Wyatt's 1.17 bps average is third in the league. She has 52 of her 62 total blocks in South Alabama's nine conference matches.
Freshman middle blocker Symone Stephenson is close behind Wyatt with 55 total blocks for a 0.76 bps average.
Texas State (15-9, 5-4 SBC) enters this week's league action after picking up a pair of wins over the weekend to move into a tie with Louisiana-Lafayette for fourth place in the Sun Belt. The Bobcats defeated Troy 3-1 on Friday and then rallied back to take a 3-2 victory over South Alabama on Sunday.
"Sunday was a match between two teams that both played pretty well," South Alabama head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. "I thought our team came out and was ready to go in set one. We were able to get a convincing victory in set one. We played pretty well in set two and had an opportunity to serve for the set and we won set three. Texas State's backs were against the wall and they were able to respond and had a couple players really step up. We know we have to put three complete sets together. We just got to continue working on closing out matches."
Amari Deardorff had 18 kills, nine digs versus the Jaguars and hit .385 in the win. Deardorff ranks sixth in the league in kills (3.12) and points (3.57) and eight in hitting with a .292 attack percentage.
Three other players for the Bobcats come into the match averaging better that two kills per set – Ashlee Hilbun (2.48), Alexandra Simms (2.30) and Shelby Vas Matt (2.16).
Hilbun also ranks among the SBC leaders in hitting as she is fourth with a .320 percentage.
Like USA's Lewis and Daniel, Vas Matt has been selected as the Sun Belt's Freshman of the Week this fall, earning the award twice.
As a team, Texas State leads the SBC in opponent hitting percentage, limiting its opposition to just a .145 attack percentage. The Bobcats are also second in the league in aces (1.23) and digs (15.41) and third in kills (12.93), assists (11.76) and blocks (2.28) and fourth in hitting (.208).
Louisiana-Lafayette comes into play this week with a 15-8 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the SBC. Since falling in four-sets to the Jaguars two weeks ago, the Ragin' Cajuns have won three of their last four matches, including upset victories over the top two teams in the Sun Belt – Western Kentucky and Arkansas-Little Rock.
"(Louisiana-Lafayette) has picked up two nice victories versus Western Kentucky and Arkansas-Little Rock, which are the top two teams in the conference," Hendrichovsky said. "They were a good team when we went to their place and played them earlier this year. We happened to play pretty well that night. You can talk to a lot of coaches in our league and they would all tell you that we have a lot of parity in the league from top to bottom. I think that's going to continue throughout the rest of the season and I think you're going to see some people take some unexpected victories and some people take some losses you wouldn't think they would take. That's just because we have a pretty even conference right now."
Like Texas State, ULL uses a balanced offensive attack as four players average 2.24 kills or better and a fifth (Chanelle Gardner) sits just outside of two kills per set at 1.85. Senior outside hitter Lavinia Tataran paces the club with 2.70 kills per set. Tonice White is averaging 2.34 kps, and Sara Mossakowski and Kaylee Nemeth are averaging 2.27 and 2.24 respectively.
Junior setter Andrea Hole ranks third in the conference in assists with 10.06 per set.
As a team, the Ragin' Cajuns have been strong all season behind the serving line. Coming into play this week, ULL leads the league in that category with 110 aces and an 1.34 aces per set average. Three players rank in the top 10 in the Sun Belt in that category with Taylor Meade holding top marks with a 0.33 average. Mossakowski (0.29) and Hole (0.24) are fourth and ninth, respectively in that same category.
Defensively, Louisiana-Lafayette also ranks third in opponent's hitting percentage and digs. ULL is holding its opponents to a .166 hitting percentage and averaging 14.84 digs per set. The Cajuns are also third in attack percentage in the league as they come in at a .216 clip.
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: The meeting between Texas State and South Alabama this weekend will mark the second between the two clubs. USA and TSU faced each other on Sunday where the Bobcats picked up a 3-2 win in San Marcos. The meeting between Louisiana-Lafayette and South Alabama this weekend will mark the 45th in the all-time series between the two clubs. ULL holds a 31-13 advantage in the all-time series, but USA has won four of the last five in the series, including a 3-1 Jag victory in Lafayette, La., earlier this season. USA is 8-10 versus the Cajuns in Mobile and has won the last three meeting in Jag Gym.
—USA—
