Box Score (PDF)

DAYTON, Ohio – The University of South Alabama volleyball team fell to Ball State in five sets (22-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 11-15) Friday at the Dayton Invitational.

South Alabama (0-1) will return to action Saturday with a pair of matches to close play at the Dayton Invitational. The Jags will square off with Marshall at 9:30 a.m., and will cap the weekend with a 6:30 p.m. match against Dayton.
 
GAME FACTS
- The Jags held a 20-19 lead in the opening set before the Cardinals rallied for four consecutive points to build a 23-20 lead. Following a kill by Kelley Hartman on an assist from Parker Harrell to cut the score to cut the USA deficit to 23-21, Ball State earned set point on a kill from Ellie Dunn. Dunn later closed the set with a kill for a 25-22 Ball State win to open the match.
- South Alabama built a 17-7 lead in set two by rallying for seven straight points that featured a kills from Morgan Stalcup and Iva Durdanovic, and five Cardinal errors that consisted of four attack errors and one ball-handling error. The Jaguars increased their lead to 23-16 later in the set on a pair of kills from Hartman and Hannah Harris, and a pair of Ball State attack errors. USA earned set point on a kill by Stalcup, and evened the match with a service ace by Harrell for a 25-19 win.
- Ball State earned set point in the third set after an attack error by Harris, but the Jaguars rallied for three straight points on three Cardinal errors. But Ball State clinched the set on a kill by Dunn for a 25-20 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
- The fourth set went back and forth the Jags scored back-to-back points on a kill by Harris and a Cardinal attack error to earn set point at 24-22. A kill by Durdanovic on an assist from Harrell clinched the set for USA at 25-22.
- South Alabama held an 8-7 lead in the fifth set before Ball State reeled off four of the next five points, highlighted by a pair of kills from Dunn, for an 11-9 advantage. The Cardinals earned match point at 14-10 on an attack error by Stalcup, and clinched the match 15-11 on a kill by Emily Holland.

NOTES
- Harrell recorded a career-high 48 assists, along with four kills, one service ace, eight digs and three total blocks.
- Durdanovic led the Jags with 16 kills, and added one assist, nine digs and one block.
- Hartman finished with 15 kills, a .464 hitting percentage, one dig and seven total blocks.
- Stalcup recorded a career-high 10 kills along with a .400 hitting percentage and four total blocks.
- Harris tied her career high in kills (10), and added two service aces, one dig and two total blocks.
- South Alabama recorded 11 total team blocks in the match.
- Ball State's Dunn finished with a game-high 17 kills.

QUOTES
Head Coach Amy Hendrichovsky
- On the match:
"It was exactly what I expected it to be – two very similar teams that each return a lot of upperclassmen, have expectations for our teams this year and both finished around a similar RPI last year. It was an intense, competitive match. I thought our team responded after losing set one, and we played more of our style. Ball State was better in the fifth set at making plays. The serve and pass game was pretty important for both teams today; we each had moments where we struggled."

- On positives she is looking to see carryover tomorrow:
"I thought we were very focused and did a good job at the service line. After playing Florida State, we worked a lot on our blocking and I thought we saw a lot of improvement in that area of the game – we out-blocked them. And our middles had a good match. I would like to see us continue to be able to rely on our blocking, our middles and our serving; those were three strengths we had last year and we need to have them each match."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Saturday with a pair of matches to close play at the Dayton Invitational. The Jags will square off with Marshall at 9:30 a.m., and will cap the weekend with a 6:30 p.m. match against Dayton.

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.