USA-McNeese State Box Score (PDF)
USA-Southern Miss Box Score (PDF)

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team won a pair of matches on Saturday at the Jaguar Invitational at Jag Gym. USA (2-3) defeated McNeese State in straight sets (25-13, 25-16, 25-14), and capped the tournament with a win over Southern Miss (6-2) in five sets.

South Alabama, Southern Miss and Alabama each went 2-1 on the weekend, but the Golden Eagles won the tournament via tiebreaker. USM's Kylie Grandy was named the tournament's most valuable player and earned all-tournament team honors along with teammate Chandler Marshall. McNeese State's Shanna Spree and Alabama's Quincey Gary were also named to the all-tournament team along with South Alabama's Kelley Hartman and Kristina Alabastro.

USA will return to action Tue., Sept. 5, when it faces Alabama State at 6:30 p.m. in Montgomery, Ala.

South Alabama 3, McNeese State 0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-14)
GAME FACTS
- USA posted a season-high .292 hitting percentage in three sets against the Cowgirls. 
- The Jaguars hit .375 as a team in the opening set, and capped the match by hitting .290 in the final set.
- South Alabama finished with 10 total team blocks, its second-highest total in a match this season. 
- McNeese State hit just .052 in the match after committing 19 attack errors in 97 total attempts.

NOTES
- South Alabama improved to 13-9 all-time against McNeese State, and has won three straight in the series with victories the last three seasons. 
- The Jaguars finished with a season-high 10 service aces, led by Kristina Alabastro's three.
- Alabastro led the Jags with nine kills, along with a .500 hitting percentage, five digs, one assist and three service aces.
- Kelley Hartman recorded eight kills, a .533 hitting percentage and five block assists.
- Morgan Stalcup finished with one kill, one assist, two service aces, two digs, one solo block and four block assists.
- Lauren Hartman recorded a career-high five block assists in addition to five kills and two digs.
- Ashlyn Roberts led the Jags with 18 assists, while Kellyn Reeves added 12 assists and seven digs. 
- Abby Baker finished with a game-high 16 digs.

QUOTES
Head Coach Amy Hendrichovsky
- On the match:
"McNeese State is a very competitive, feisty group. I'm proud of our girls responding today after a tough loss last night, and kind of make today a new day. We really wanted to treat this match as business, and I thought we did a really good job of executing our game plan."

- On an evenly-distributed attack:
"That was our focus after last night, we became kind of an outside dominant team and we want to have a balanced offense. It was imperative that we found that in this match going into the Southern Miss match."

- On the defense:
"We focused a lot in training camp on our block and defense, and thought that was a big change after last season that we needed to make – our defensive effort and defensive execution. It's been a good part of our focus in our gym. The better we get, we're going to play at a higher level. If we can defend a good offense, we'll be able to compete at a high level."

South Alabama 3, Southern Miss 2 (25-12, 28-26, 17-25, 18-25, 15-10)
GAME FACTS
- USA overcame a six-point deficit (14-20) in the second set by scoring six consecutive points, highlighted by a pair of kills from Iva Durdanovic, one kill by Kelley Hartman, one kill by Lauren Hartman and a service ace by Roberts. USM later earned set point on a Jaguar service error, but a kill by Alabastro and Golden Eagle attack error tied the score at 24. The Jags went on to clinch the set by scoring the final three points via a kill by Morgan Stalcup, a Golden Eagle attack error and a service ace by Kristina Alabastro. 
- South Alabama clinched the match on a kill by Kelley Hartman and a service ace by Arissa Chappell on match point.

NOTES
- The Jags finished with season highs in kills (49) and digs (67).
- Roberts recorded her second double-double in as many days, finishing with 20 assists and 10 digs along with two kills and two service aces.
- Alabastro recorded her first double-double of the season with 11 kills and 15 digs as well as two solo blocks, three block assists, one service ace and one assist. 
- Kelley Hartman finished with 12 kills, .400 hitting percentage, one dig, one solo block and seven block assists. Durdanovic added 14 kills, two digs and one solo block.

QUOTES
- On Southern Miss:
"They are a very well-coached team. We play each other every fall and spring, and it's always a heated battle with us. It's just a fun opponent to play; they're not in our conference and it really does help us play some good volleyball. I was proud of our team today after our response to last night's loss, but I think overall yesterday made us better today. We were better today having to finish the way we did yesterday."

- On playing three matches in two days for first time this season:
"It's very tough and I think because we didn't play three matches last weekend, this is our first weekend to get to that point and I'm proud of the way our girls kind of refreshed themselves. Their timeout before the fifth set was the difference in this match. The way they ran that timeout, they communicated what they needed to do and ultimately made that fifth set happen. We had some great people off the bench – I was able to get Symone (Stephenson) off the bench, Katelyn (Lochner) and Parker Harrell. All three contributed and we probably don't win that game if they don't come in and do their jobs cold off the bench."

- On moving forward following consecutive wins:
"It helps us build momentum, and I think we need to learn to play volleyball at a higher level more consistently. We were very focused in set one in our game plan, and we kind of lost our focus – we were very lucky to pull out that second set. We lost our focus as we mentally and physically fatigued, but it really came down to, mentally, which team was going to recover from their errors because at the end of the match it was kind of a higher-error game."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Tue., Sept. 5, when it faces Alabama State at 6:30 p.m. in Montgomery, Ala.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Rally Score Club, the volleyball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Rally Score Club go directly to support the South Alabama volleyball program. For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/rallyscoreclub.