Match 1 - Box Score
Match 2 - Box Score
Photo Gallery 

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team dropped a pair of matches to Stephen F. Austin Saturday at Jaguar Gym.

SFA (7-1) won match one in four sets (18-25, 20-25, 25-20, 13-25), and swept the doubleheader with a win in four sets (23-25, 13-25, 25-22, 16-25) in the second match.

USA (0-4) will return to action Thu., Oct. 1, when it hosts Troy at 6 p.m. to open Sun Belt Conference play. 

Match 1
SFA 3, USA 1
 GAME FACTS
- USA took a 3-2 lead in set one after a kill by Hannah Maddux, but SFA responded with a 9-0 scoring run to build a 10-3 lead. The Ladyjacks later earned set point at 24-16 on a kill by Ariana Pagan, and clinched the set 25-18 on a kill by Ielan Bradley to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
- The Ladyjacks opened set two with a 4-0 scoring run, and doubled their lead at 6-3 on a kill by Ashley Procious. Consecutive kills by Maddie Soboleski tied the score at 16-16 and capped a 4-0 Jaguar scoring run. SFA then went on a 4-0 run, aided by a pair of USA attack errors, for a 21-17 advantage. The Ladyjacks later earned set point at 24-20 on a bad set by Meaghan Jones, and clinched the set 25-20 on a service ace by Maddy Bourque to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
- SFA doubled its lead to 14-7 midway through set three after a service ace by Pagan. A service ace by Hannah Maddux cut the USA deficit to 15-11. The Jags used an 8-0 run, highlighted by block-assists by Maddux and Jones and Soboleski and Carly Doros, to take a 20-17 lead. A 3-0 Jaguar run that featured a kill by Jones pushed the USA advantage to 23-19. South Alabama earned set point at 24-19 on a kill by Doros, and clinched the set 25-20 on an SFA attack error to cut the Ladyjacks' lead to 2-1 in the match.
- The Jags cut their deficit to one at 7-6 early in set four after a pair of consecutive SFA errors, but a 4-1 Ladyjack lead pushed the Stephen F. Austin lead to 11-7. A 5-0 SFA run, aided by a pair of Jaguar bad sets, then doubled the lead to 18-9. The Ladyjacks closed the match with a 5-0 run, earning match point at 24-13 on a kill by Bradley, and clinched the match 25-13 on a kill by Payton Cerny. 

NOTES
- Maddux finished with a career-high 17 kills, and also added one assist, three service aces, two digs and one block-assist.
- Doros added a career-high seven kills and .500 hitting percentage on 12 attacks, along with one assist, two digs and one block-assist.
- Soboleski finished with a game-high 29 assists, and recorded seven kills and .500 hitting percentage on 13 attacks with six digs and one block-assist.
- Rachel Hickey posted a team-high 21 digs, and added four assists.
- SFA took a 2-1 lead in the all-time series with the win.

Match 2
SFA 3, USA 1
GAME FACTS
- The Ladyjacks scored five of the first six points of the opening set for a 5-1 advantage. SFA held a 9-3 lead before a 7-0 Jaguar scoring run, highlighted by three kills from Hannah Johnson, for a 10-9 lead. The Ladyjacks answered with a 3-0 run to take a 12-10 lead. USA tied the score 19-19 after an SFA ball-handling error and block-assist by Soboleski and Johnson, but consecutive kills by Cerny pushed the SFA lead to 21-19. The Jags tied the score 22-22 after a kill by Jones. The Ladyjacks earned set point 24-22 on a Jaguar attack error, and clinched the set 25-23 on a kill by Susan Gillet to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
- USA took a 4-3 lead in set two after a kill by Doros, but SFA answered with a 5-0 scoring run to double its lead at 8-4. A bad SFA set cut the Jaguar deficit to two at 12-10, but the Ladyjacks responded with a 10-0 scoring run for a 22-10 advantage. SFA earned set point at 24-11 on a kill by Leah Powell, and clinched the set 25-13 on a kill by Powell to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
- South Alabama cut its deficit to 5-4 after a kill by Doros in set three, but SFA answered with a 4-0 run for a 9-4 lead. The Jags responded with a 5-0 run, highlighted by a service ace by Juanita Monteiro-Pai, to tie the score 9-9. A bad Jaguar set gave the Ladyjacks a 10-9 lead, but USA answered with a 4-0 run that featured kills by Jones, Johnson, Soboleski and Hickey for a 13-10 advantage. South Alabama later earned set point at 24-22 on a kill by Jones, and clinched the set 25-22 on an SFA attack error to cut the Ladyjacks' lead to 2-1 in the match.
- South Alabama took a 6-4 lead early in set four, but SFA went on a 6-0 run to take a 10-6 lead. A 3-0 Ladyjack run later in the set pushed the SFA lead to 14-8. Stephen F. Austin earned match point at 24-15 on a block-assist by Pagan and Bryli Contreras, and clinched the match 3-1 on a kill by Bradley. 

NOTES
- Jones finished with a game-high 15 kills, along with a .333 hitting percentage, four digs and one block assist.
- Johnson added eight kills, a .533 hitting percentage, one dig, one solo block and two block-assists.
- Soboleski recorded a season-high 35 assists, along with a pair of kills, one service ace, nine digs and two block-assists.
- Hickey posted a game-high 17 digs, and also added three kills.
- USA finished with a .170 team hitting percentage, while SFA recorded a .287 team hitting percentage in four sets.

QUOTES
Head Coach Alexis Meeks-Rydell
- On the day:
"SFA is a great program, which is why we brought them here. Debbie (Humphreys) is a great coach, and has been there for years and established a phenomenal culture. They just play so well together; their systems are already in place and have been for a long time. We definitely saw that difference between their side and ours, with our side not jelling as well or being fully established for what I'm looking for as far as offensive and defensive systems. It was better than when we played at Louisiana. I am happy we took two sets today; we won the third set in both (matches), and last year we couldn't win a third set. Our offense still had a few lags in it, but we started connecting better today. We changed our defense last week and that was new for our team. I saw some good things out of it, and some stuff that is just going to take some more time.

"Going into Troy next weekend, we're going to run into the same thing. Troy didn't lose anyone from last year, so they are already established. So how can we go into practice next week not beating ourselves so much for looking at just results, but looking at areas where we have improved the last three weeks, things that we're still struggling on and just continuing to jell as a team. That's just where we're lacking, and it comes with time and game experience. We had Maddie (Soboleski) and Rachel (Hickey) here in the spring, but our spring got cut short like everyone's did. So I didn't get as much time with Maddie from the setting position as I would have liked to in the spring, so she and I are still working on a lot of things offensively that we need to fix. It all just comes with time and game experience."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Thu., Oct. 1, when it hosts Troy at 6 p.m. at Jaguar Gym to open Sun Belt Conference play. 

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