Game 1 - USA 3, Indiana State 2
Game 2 - USA 3, Nicholls State 0


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team opened the 2016 season with a pair of wins at the Marriott Invitational at Pete Hanna Center on Friday.

South Alabama (2-0) defeated Indiana State 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 25-20,18-25, 15-9) in the tournament's first match of the day. The Jags then knocked off Nicholls State in straight sets (25-19, 25-16, 25-19) in an afternoon contest.

"Overall I am pleased with our effort as a team," USA head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. "I felt like we brought really good energy and a great mindset into the games today. We have been discussing how we wanted to play and how we wanted to look, and the team did a great job following the game plan."

South Alabama will face Samford at 7 p.m. Saturday to close the Marriott Invitational. Live streaming and live stats for the match will be available at SamfordSports.com.

"We're focusing on improving every day," Hendrichovsky said. "We definitely have things we need to improve on from today – some connection and adjusting to different tempos and offenses on the other side of the net – but I think naturally the more we play the better we're going to get. I would like to see us really focus on keeping our opponents' hitting percentage low and focusing on that attack defensively, and then executing on our side of the floor offensively."

USA 3, Indiana State 2
South Alabama earned a 3-2 win in five sets over Indiana State in its season opener Friday morning. Freshman Iva Durdanovic recorded a double-double in the first match of her Jaguar career, finishing with 11 kills and 12 digs to go along with two blocks – one solo and one block assist.

Mechell Daniel recorded 15 kills and hit .441 in the match, while Sarah Richardson added 11 kills and four block assists along with a .500 hitting percentage. Kellyn Reeves recorded 29 assists, as well as eight digs and one kill, while Ashlyn Roberts added 19 assists and five digs.

South Alabama finished with 11 service aces, led by Richardson with six and Abby Baker with three.

The Jaguars never trailed in taking their opening set of the 2016 season, which they won 25-23, aided by a stretch of five straight points that gave them a 6-1 lead early in the set. Daniel recorded two kills during that span, while Kristina Alabastro and Kelley Hartman added one kill apiece. USA pushed its advantage to 19-10 later in set one with another five-point rally that was highlighted by kills from Daniel, Alabastro and Reeves. A kill by Durdanovic sealed the first-set win.

USA recorded 18 kills in set one, along with 24 of its total 62 digs in the match. Daniel finished with seven kills and hit .583 in the first set to pace the Jaguars.

Indiana State answered with a 25-21 win in set two to even the match at one set apiece. USA battled back from a five-point deficit late, trailing 21-16 at one point, to cut the ISU lead to just two at 22-20 before the Sycamores scored three of the final four points in the set to even the match.

The Jags responded with a 25-20 win in set three to take a 2-1 advantage. USA took its biggest lead of the set – four points – following a service ace by Richardson which put the Jaguars ahead 11-7. ISU battled back to cut the USA advantage to 20-19 later in the set. But South Alabama answered by scoring five of the final six points, which was highlighted by two kills from Durdanovic, one kill from Richardson and a service ace by Baker. South Alabama posted a .429 team hitting percentage in set three along with 14 kills.

The Sycamores forced the fifth and deciding set after a 25-18 win in set four. ISU built a seven-point advantage midway through the fourth set for a 16-9 lead. USA pulled to within three points at 17-14, but outscored the Jags 8-4 down the stretch to clinch the set.

South Alabama scored four straight points to close the fifth set, with a service ace by Richardson as the final point in a 15-9 decision, and clinch its first win of the season.

"They (Indiana State) had two pretty high-efficiency hitters," Hendrichovsky said. "We had to match their efficiency and had a hard time stopping them, but in the sets that we won we really went after them with our serve. For our team to go into the fifth set and be aggressive with our serve is pretty fearless of them, and that was the difference in winning that set. We got a pretty early lead in that fifth set, and it really made a difference from our serve."

USA 3, Nicholls State 0
The Jaguars improved to 2-0 on the season with a win in straight sets over Nicholls State. 

With the score tied 10-10, South Alabama reeled off four consecutive points, and went on to score six of the next seven points to push its advantage to 16-11. NSU rallied to cut the Jaguar lead to one point at 19-18, but USA responded with four straight points – on a pair of service aces by Arissa Chappell and kills from Daniel and Nikki Gittens – to extend its lead to 23-18. The Jags then closed out the first set at 25-19 on a kill by Gittens and a Colonel attack error.

South Alabama scored nine of the first 13 points in the second set to take a 9-4 lead, and pushed its advantage to seven points with a 15-8 lead following a service ace by Ashlyn Roberts. The Jags then took a nine-point lead later in the set following consecutive kills by Kelley Hartman for a 23-14 advantage. Consecutive errors by NSU – one service error and one attack error – following consecutive attack errors by USA closed the set at 25-16.

USA clinched its second win in as many contests with a 25-19 win in set three. NSU built a 6-2 lead early in the set, but the Jaguars responded with three straight points to cut the Colonel lead to 6-5. USA battled to tie the score 8-8, and later in the set at 15-15. The Jaguars then rallied to score the next six points, highlighted by a pair of kills from Alabastro and a kill from Daniel, to build a 21-15 advantage. NSU cut the Jag lead to 24-19, but an attack error on the ensuing play clinched the match for South Alabama.

Alabastro led the Jaguars with 10 kills and hit .450 along with four block assists and three digs. Daniel recorded eight kills, and Gittens finished with six kills. Roberts and Reeves finished with 17 assists apiece, and Baker led the squad with 13 digs.

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).