USA-USM box score
USA-JSU box score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team split a pair of matches Friday at the Jax State Invitational at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

USA (5-3) defeated Southern Miss in four sets (25-15, 25-20, 24-26, 25-23) to open the tournament before falling in five sets (21-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-13, 15-12) to host Jacksonville State Friday evening. South Alabama will close play at the Jax State Invitational Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Nicholls State. 

USA 3, USM 1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-13, 15-12)
GAME FACTS
Set 1
- Southern Miss doubled its lead at 4-2 early in the opening set after a Jaguar service error, but three Golden Eagle attack errors and a kill by Maddie Soboleski accounted for a 4-0 Jaguar run that gave South Alabama a 6-4.
- South Alabama held a one-point lead at 6-5 before a 4-0 run that featured a service ace and a kill by Soboleski, and a kill by Carissa Bradford doubled the USA lead to 10-5.
- Consecutive Jaguar attack errors cut the Golden Eagle deficit to 14-9, but USA answered with a 4-1 run that featured kills by Kailey Keeble, Kennedy Wallace and Soboleski to build an 18-10 advantage.
- South Alabama earned set point at 24-15 on a service ace by Niki Capizzi, and clinched the set 25-15 on a block-assist by Wallace and Keeble, which capped a 4-0 scoring run to close the set.

Set 2
- USM held a 3-2 lead early in set two, but the Jags went on a 6-0 scoring run, highlighted by a pair of kills by Bradford and block-assist from Niki Capizzi and Kibble, to take an 8-3 lead. Consecutive kills by Bradford doubled the USA lead at 10-5.
- USA pushed its lead to 15-10 on a kill by Wallace and block-assist by Capizzi and Soboleski before consecutive Jaguar attack errors cut the USM deficit to 15-12.
- USM cut the Jaguar lead to 17-15 on a kill by Mia Wesley, but Bradford responded with consecutive kills for a 19-15 South Alabama advantage.
- The Golden Eagles used a 3-1 run to cut the USA lead to 20-18 before a kill by Bradford and block-assist from Wallace and Morgan Stalcup extended the Jag lead to 22-18.
- USA earned set point at 24-20 on a Golden Eagle attack error, and clinched the set 25-20 on a kill by Soboleski to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set 3
- USA tied the score 6-6 after a Southern Miss attack error and service ace from Capizzi. But the Golden Eagles went on a 3-0 run, aided by a pair of Jaguar attack errors, to take a 9-6 lead. A 3-1 Jaguar run that featured a kill and solo block by Bradford cut the USM advantage to 10-9. Southern Miss then used a 3-0 run to push its lead to 13-9.
- Consecutive block-assists from Wallace and Stalcup and Capizzi and Soboleski cut the Golden Eagle lead to 13-11.
- USA cut the USM lead to 20-17 on a kill by Bradford and service ace from Madisen Werdell.
- Back-to-back kills by Wallace and Soboleski cut the Golden Eagle lead to 21-19, and consecutive kills from Soboleski and a Golden Eagle attack error tied the score 22-22.
- A kill by Capizzi tied the score 23-23 before a USM attack error gave the Jags match point at 24-23. A kill by Wesley and service ace from Aliah Girox gave USM set point at 25-24, and the Golden Eagles clinched the set 26-24 on a kill by Wesley to cut the USA lead in the match to 2-1.

Set 4
- A kill by Wesley tied the score 4-4, but a block-assist by Capizzi and Keeble and kill from Wallace gave South Alabama a 6-4 advantage.
- USA held a one-point advantage before going on a 4-1 run, highlighted by a block-assist by Wallace and Stalcup, to take a 10-6 lead.
- South Alabama used a 3-0 run that was aided by a pair of Golden Eagle attack errors and capped with a block-assist from Wallace and Stalcup to take a 13-7 lead. 
- A kill by Soboleski later in the set pushed the Jaguar lead to 21-15 and forced a Golden Eagle timeout.
- Southern Miss went on a 3-0 scoring run to cut the USA lead to 22-20.
- South Alabama earned match point at 24-22 on a kill by Wallace, and clinched the set 25-23 on a kill by Wallace to claim the win 3-1.

NOTES
- South Alabama extended its win streak to five matches against Southern Miss with the victory.
- The win also marked USA's first of the season in a match over three sets.
- Bradford finished with a career-high 18 kills, along with a .341 hitting percentage, one dig and one block.
- Soboleski recorded a double-double with 17 kills, and 11 digs, and also added two service aces and four total blocks.
- Keeble also recorded a double-double, her team-leading fourth of the season, with 46 assists and 16 digs, while adding three kills, one service ace and four total blocks.
- Rachel Hickey led the Jags with 19 digs, and also added three assists.
- Capizzi finished with seven total blocks, and also added four kills, two service aces and one dig.
- USA recorded a season-high 13 total team blocks in the match.

JSU 3, USA 2 (21-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-13, 15-12)
GAME FACTS
Set 1
- South Alabama tied the score 3-3 on a service ace by Paige Lynn, but Jacksonville State went on a 3-0 run that was aided by a Jaguar service error and attack error to double its advantage to 6-3.
- The Gamecocks held a 9-5 lead before Bradford reeled off three straight kills to cut the Jaguar deficit to one at 9-8.
- JSU pushed its lead to 17-13 with a 3-0 run that was aided by a Jaguar attack error and service error. The Gamecocks stretched their lead to 22-16 with a 4-0 run that was ended on a kill by Soboleski on an assist from Keeble to cut the Jag deficit to 22-17.
- USA went on a 3-0 run that was highlighted by a kill from Alayna Maslinski, to cut the JSU lead to 23-20. The Gamecocks earned set point at 24-20 on a kill by Kaylie Milton, and clinched the set 25-21 on a kill by Milton to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Set 2
- The Jags took a 7-5 lead with a 3-0 run that included a kill by Bradford and two Gamecock attack errors.
- USA took a 10-8 lead on a block-assist by Hannah Maddux and Stalcup, but JSU tied the score 10-10 on a kill by Lena Kindermann and a Jaguar attack error.
- The Jags took a 14-12 lead after a Gamecock attack error, but back-to-back kills by Katie Montgomery tied the score 14-14. USA then took a 15-14 lead after a JSU service error prior to a media timeout.
- USA took a 17-15 lead on a kill by Maddux, but JSU tied the score 17-17 after a USA service error and Gamecock block.
- A kill by Soboleski and solo block by Maddux gave the Jaguars a 19-17 advantage. JSU tied the score 20-20 on consecutive kills by Addie Halverson. USA then took a 22-20 lead after back-to-back kills by Wallace.
- JSU tied the score 23-23 on consecutive Jaguar attack errors. The Gamecocks earned set point at 24-23 on a kill by Kylee Quigley, but a kill by Bradford tied the score 24-24. JSU earned set point at 25-24 on a kill by Montgomery, and clinched the set 26-24 on a solo block by Lexie Libs to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set 3
- The Jags opened the set with a 4-0 run that included kills by Maddux and Stalcup. 
- USA went on a 4-0 run that featured two kills and a solo block by Bradford to take a 15-8 lead.
- A kill by Maddie Soboleski ended a 3-0 JSU run and pushed the USA lead to 17-12.
- USA took a 22-13 lead with a 5-0 run on kills by Soboleski and Wallace, and solo blocks by Maddux and Wallace.
- The Jaguars earned set point at 24-14 on a JSU attack error, and clinched the set 25-14 on a service ace by Soboleski to cut the JSU lead in the match to 2-1.

Set 4
- USA took a 5-3 lead after a 3-0 run that included kills by Stalcup and Soboleski.
- JSU answered with a 3-0 run to take a 6-5 lead after a pair of kills by Halverson and a kill by Libs.
- The Gamecocks held an 8-6 lead before the Jaguars went on a 6-0 run, highlighted by a pair of service aces by Soboleski, to take a 12-8 lead.
- The Jags used a 3-0 run that featured consecutive kills by Bradford to take a 15-9 lead.
- Three straight Gamecock attack errors increased the Jaguar lead to 19-11 later in the set.
- USA pushed its lead to 24-12 to earn set point after 5-0 run that featured a service ace by Werdell, two kills by Maddux and block-assist from Wallace and Maddux. A kill by Soboleski gave the Jags set point at 24-12, and USA clinched the set 25-13 on a kill by Maddux to tie the match 2-2.

Set 5
- USA took a 7-6 lead midway through the set after consecutive kills from Bradford, and held an 8-7 lead following a kill by Maddux that led into a media timeout.
- JSU took a 9-8 lead after a kill by Kindermann and a block-assist by Milton and Sadie Brown. 
- A kill by Maddux cut the Jaguar deficit to one at 11-10, but a kill by Kindermann and Jaguar attack error gave JSU a 13-10 advantage. USA answered with kills by Soboleski and Bradford to cut the JSU lead to 13-12.
- JSU earned match point at 14-12 on a kill by Milton, and clinched the set 15-12 on a kill by Quigley for a 3-2 win.

NOTES
- Bradford finished with a game-high 16 kills, along with a .333 hitting percentage, two digs and one block.
- Maddux recorded 14 kills and .258 hitting percentage in her season debut, and also added one dig and five blocks.
- Soboleski recorded her second straight double-double and third of the season with 12 kills and 12 digs, along with three service aces and one assist.
- Wallace finished with 11 kills, a .417 hitting percentage and three blocks.
- Keeble recorded her team-best fifth double-double of the season with 48 assists and 23 digs, in addition to two kills.
- Hickey finished with a game-high 18 digs, and also added six assists.
- USA committed 13 service errors in the match, which tied its season-high that came against Jacksonville on Aug. 28.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the day's matches:
"I appreciate how hard the team battled. Our ladies get after it, and it's just a testament to their hard work and how bad they want to win. It's inspiring and makes you want to work harder every single day for them. I'm really proud of them. We were extremely efficient in the Southern Miss match, and just came out extremely hard. That is a good team; we had them rated really high. They got a game out from us (in set three) and we battled in that one, and we took care of business in the next one (set four). I thought they (team) did a tremendous job. And the second match, I think Jacksonville State is a great team. To their credit they made us work, and that is kind of what we expected, and went up 2-0 on us. When that happened we had to dig deep, and I'm just really proud of how the team responded."

- On the team's growth:
"If we sit here and get focused on results, we're missing the point. The process is where we're at; it's a new group, I'm a new head coach and we're a month or so in with each other. I think where we're at right now from where we started, how hard we're working and the type of effort and efficiency we are producing on a night-in night-out basis – it sucks to lose, but I also appreciate how the process is going for us right now. We just have to keep our heads down with one foot in front of the other and stay with it."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Saturday when it faces Nicholls State at 3:30 p.m. to close play at the Jax State Invitational in Jacksonville, Ala.  

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