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MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team fell in five sets (25-20, 15-25, 26-24, 16-25, 14-16) to Troy in Thursday's Sun Belt Conference opener at Jaguar Gym.

The loss snapped a four-match Jaguar win streak in the series. USA (0-5, 0-1 SBC) will return to action Thu., Oct. 2, when it hosts Troy at 6 p.m. in a Sun Belt Conference match. 

GAME FACTS
- South Alabama jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the opening set, aided by a 3-0 scoring run to open the match that featured kills from Hannah Maddux and Rebecca Walk. Troy (4-0, 4-0 SBC) answered with a 3-0 run to cut its deficit to 5-4. USA took a 12-10 lead after a kill by Walk, but the Trojans answered with a 3-0 run to take a 13-12 lead. The Jags responded with a 4-0 run, highlighted by a solo block by Hannah Johnson and a block-assist by Johnson and Carly Doros, for a 16-13 advantage. A 3-0 Jag run that featured a kill by Johnson pushed the USA lead to 20-15. South Alabama earned set point at 24-18 on a Troy attack error, and clinched the set 25-20 on a kill by Hannah Harris to take a 1-0 lead in the match. 
- The Jags scored the first point of the second set on a kill by Walk, but Troy answered with a 5-0 scoring run to take a 5-1 lead. Troy doubled its lead to 10-5 following a service ace by Natalie Hummel. A 3-0 USA run, highlighted by a service ace by Maddie Soboleski, cut the Troy lead to 13-10. But Troy responded with a 3-0 scoring run for a 16-10 advantage. The Trojans later earned set point at 24-15 on a kill by Caitlin Cooper, and clinched the set 25-15 on a service ace by Amara Anderson to even the match at 1-1.
- A block-assist by Walk and Maddux pushed the USA lead to 5-3 early in set three, but Troy went on a 4-0 run for a 7-5 advantage. USA tied the score 15-15 on a kill by Harris. The Jags took an 18-17 lead on a kill by Doros, but Troy answered with a 3-0 run to take a 20-18 lead. A 3-0 Jag run, highlighted by a solo block from Harris and block-assist by Johnson and Soboleski, gave South Alabama a 21-20 advantage. A kill by Cheyenne Hayes and a Jaguar attack error gave the Trojans a 22-21 lead. Troy earned set point at 24-22 on a block-assist by Julia Brooks and Hillier, but a Trojan service error and service ace by Soboleski tied the score 24-24. USA took a 25-24 lead on a Trojan attack error, and clinched the set 26-24 on a kill by Jones to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
- A kill by Troy's Anderson tied the score 2-2 early in set four, but USA went on a 5-0 run, highlighted by a pair of kills by Harris and block-assists by Johnson and Harris and Doros and Johnson, for a 7-2 advantage. A service ace by Juanita Monteiro-Pai gave the Jags a 9-4 lead, but Troy answered with a 3-0 run to cut its deficit to 9-7. A kill by Jones pushed the Jaguar lead to 11-8, but Troy went on a 7-0 run to take a 15-11 lead. Jones cut the Jaguar deficit to 15-12 after a kill, but Troy responded with a 4-0 run to take a 19-12 lead. The Trojans later earned set point at 24-15 on a kill by Brooks, and clinched the set 25-16 on a kill by Hayes to tie the match 2-2. 
- A Trojan attack error cut the USA deficit to 3-2 in set five, but the Trojans scored consecutive points on a Jaguar service error and block-assist by Brooks and Anderson to take a 5-2 lead. Troy doubled its lead to 6-3 after a kill by Hayes. South Alabama answered with a 4-0 run, highlighted by a kill and service ace by Harris, to take a 7-6 lead. A kill by Hillier and block by Troy pushed the Trojan lead to 9-8 before a kill by Maddux tied the score 9-9. A Trojan service error tied the score at 11-11. A kill by Brooks and a Jaguar attack error gave Troy a 13-11 advantage. USA tied the score at 13-13 after a block-assist by Johnson and Harris, and a kill by Soboleski. Troy earned match point at 14-13 on a kill by Hayes, but a kill by Harris tied the score 14-14. Troy earned match point at 15-14 on a kill by Cooper, and clinched the match 16-14 on a Jaguar attack error.

NOTES
- Soboleski recorded her first career double-double at USA, finishing with a season-high 41 assists and 15 digs while also adding one kill, two service aces and one block-assist.
- Harris finished with a season-high 13 kills, and added three service aces, four digs, one solo block and two block-assists.
- Rachel Hickey led South Alabama with 16 digs, and added three assists.
- Johnson tied her career high with eight kills, along with a .267 hitting percentage, and recorded a season-high six total blocks, finishing with one solo block and five block-assists.
- Maddux added 11 kills, and also recorded three digs and one block-assist.
- The win snapped a four-match Jaguar win streak in the series, marking Troy's first win over South Alabama in the regular season since 2016, which came in Troy, Alabama, and marked the Trojans' first win in Mobile since 2014.

QUOTES
Head Coach Alexis Meeks-Rydell
- On the team's effort:
"After we played SFA, we identified and realized this last week at practice that we really needed to focus on the controllables – the effort, hunger, how we can communicate better on the court, how can we come together and play as a team instead of individuals, how our bench can be incorporated with the people on the floor and how our front row can connect better with our back row. We spent every practice with that focus, and it translated tonight. We were hungry to win that match. Our bench connected to our team on the floor, and our team communicated, came together and we figured out more problems. We didn't get into as many ruts and didn't make as many mistakes the previous weekend because of all of the controllables. We're super proud of them for translating what we worked on in practice this last week into the game. I just told them to keep fighting, because we're right there."

- On the improvement from last match:
"That was the whole speech that we just gave them in the locker room. Obviously, nobody involved with this team wants to be 0-5 right now. And we don't look like a team, when you watch us play, that is 0-5. We're just trying to get them to understand that the things we're trying to teach them and ask of them, we run a very different style than the majority of teams that we play or are in our conference. It's high-risk, high-reward. We started to get there last year, but we're doing a lot of things this year that we didn't even do last season. We also have a new program, so this is the first time we're working those things out. We're not getting the results we want, but we have gotten better every single set from the first set we played at Louisiana to the last set we played tonight. 

"What I'm trying to get them to understand is, if they keep showing up every day, continue to stay hungry and keep the belief that what we're doing is working, we're already going up and you're supposed to peak at the end of the season. The things we're doing and capabilities we have as a young team – the possibilities are endless. There are things we could switch right now that would maybe win us some games, but what is our end goal here? Win games because we said we wanted to win one, then when we get to November we are the exact same team that we are now because we were just focused on winning games? Or are we focused on making sure that we are believing in what we're trying to do, so that in November we're one of the best teams in the conference? We have that capability. I don't want to be 0-5 right now, nor do any of our fans, but this isn't about being 0-5. This is about still believing and grinding out what we believe in, because it is going to eventually get us that end result we want."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Fri., Oct. 2, when it hosts Troy at 6 p.m. at Jaguar Gym in a Sun Belt Conference match.

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).

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