Box Score - South Alabama 3, UL Lafayette 1 (.pdf)MOBILE, Ala. – Junior outside hitter Mechell Daniel recorded 17 kills and 10 digs, while posting a .340 hitting percentage and senior defensive specialist Emily Hundt carded a career-best 30 digs as the University of South Alabama volleyball team picked up its third Sun Belt Conference victory of the season with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 25-16) decision Friday evening over UL Lafayette at Jag Gym.
"We really controlled our side of the net, especially in the first and second sets, and we attacked," South Alabama head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. "(This week) we talked about offensive execution and I thought we did that in set one and set two. In set three (UL Lafayette) attacked us and we lightened up a little bit, but it was good to see our team's maturity as they went back to our game-plan in the fourth set.
"The one thing that I will say about this team, and I've said it a few times, they fight and scrape and scrap. It's just about tweaking the little things. If they can have that mentality and play volleyball at a high level consistently, we will be a very good team come November."
USA (9-8, 3-3 SBC) will now welcome UL Monroe on Saturday with first serve versus the Warhawks set for 6:30 p.m. at Jag Gym. Live stats and web streaming can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com. Fans can also keep up with in-match updates by following action on the program's twitter account @USA_Jags_VB.
For Daniel, it was her eighth double-double of the season and her fourth straight. Daniel now has 36 double-doubles for her career. Daniel also moved into sixth place on South Alabama's career kills list, passing former Jag Holly Miller (1,038) who letterd at USA 2000-02.
The 30-dig performance by Hundt was the fifth-most digs by a Jag in a match since rally-era scoring started back in 2001 and marked the first time a South Alabama player has had 30 or more digs in a match since Abby Baker's 34 versus Northwestern State last season. It was also the second-most digs in a four-set match at South Alabama.
USA held a 76-54 advantage in the digs category in the match.
Savannah Stewart posted her ninth-career double-double, the first for the redshirt junior since her freshman season, as she ended the night with 11 kills and 12 digs to go along with a pair of aces. Sophomore setter Emma Anderson also registered a double-double in the victory, her fourth of the season, finishing the match with 39 assists and 16 digs.
UL Lafayette fell to 5-14 on the year and 1-6 in Sun Belt play with the loss. The Ragin' Cajuns were led offensively by Sara Mossakowski and Chanelle Gardner, who each had eight kills. Chloe Cordell came off the bench to chip in seven kills as well. ULL setter Keeley Hayes had 24 assists and 12 digs.
SET ONE: SOUTH ALABAMA 25, UL LAFAYETTE 19The Jaguars jumped out to a quick eight-point advantage in the opening set, rattling off 11 of the first 14 points of the match. Daniel led the South Alabama offense during that time recording seven of her nine first-set kills.
With USA still leading by seven (18-11) following a kill by Stewart putaway, the Ragin' Cajuns rallied back and trimmed the Jaguar advantage to just three with four-straight points. Hayes added a kill and a pair of aces to begin the rally and then Mossakowski cut the deficit to 18-15 with a kill of her own.
The Jaguars pushed the lead back out to 21-16 on after an ace by Arissa Chappell. Daniel later sealed the 25-19 first-set win with her ninth kill of the match. Daniel had her nine kills on 16 attacks and didn't commit an attack error for a .562 hitting percentage.
The South Alabama back row also came up big in the opening set, recording 27 digs. Hundt had nine and Stewart added eight.
SET TWO: SOUTH ALABAMA 25, UL LAFAYETTE 14In the second set, South Alabama again got off to a quick start, racing out to an 8-3 advantage. Daniel added three more kills during the early run and Sara Richardson and Kolby Meeks put USA up five when the duo combined for a block assists.
The Jag defense later extended the lead out to 14-6 after back-to-back solo blocks by Stewart and Gittens. Four points later, Gittens gave South Alabama its first double-digit lead of the set with a kill.
USA continued to hold control over the next several points and took its largest lead of the frame at 11 (21-10) after a pair of kills by Daniel and a putaway from Stewart. ULL would trim the deficit to eight over the next three points, but get no closer as the Jags went on to take a 2-0 lead in the match with the 25-14 second-set victory. Daniel registered her second aces of the night to put USA a set-point and on the ensuing rally, Richardson clinched the 11-point victory with a kill of her own.
South Alabama posted a .370 hitting percentage in the second set, recording 12 kills on 27 attacks with just two errors. The Ragin' Cajuns hit .031 in the set and had eight kills and seven errors on 32 attacks.
SET THREE: UL LAFAYETTE 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 23The third set remained close throughout the first half of the frame as neither team was able to garner more than a one-point advantage on the other. Tied 15-15, ULL was able to push across three-straight points. Hayes recorded a pair of kills and Chyna Brooks and Mossakowski teamed up to turn back a Jaguar attack.
The Ragin' Cajuns held a 22-18 advantage following block assists by Gardner and Cordell, but the Jags would answer back with three unanswered points of their own to pull within one at 22-21 after a UL Lafayette attack error.
South Alabama again trailed by just one at 24-23, but the Ragin' Cajuns picked up the next point to take the set 25-23 on a kill by Hayes.
Hundt posted 11 of her 30 digs in the fourth set for the Jaguars.
SET FOUR: SOUTH ALABAMA 25, UL LAFAYETTE 16UL Lafayette held an early two-point advantage at 6-4 after a kill by Hanna Rovira, but the Jaguars answered back with by pushing across nine of the next 10 points to reclaim the lead. USA ended its 9-1 run, including a run of six-straight points to close out the scoring. During the run, Hundt recorded both of her aces in the match, and Richardson had a pair of block assists, teaming up with Daniel and Anderson. Daniel capped off the run with a kill.
South Alabama's lead later grew to double digits at 22-12 after back-to-back kills by Stewart. From there, USA would go on to take the set and the match with the 25-16 victory. Gittens sealed the nine-point win and the match with her seventh kill of the evening.
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).
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