University of South Alabama Athletics

Box Score (PDF)

HARRISONBURG, Va. – South Alabama volleyball fell in four sets at James Madison Friday in Sun Belt Conference action at Sinclair Gymnasium.

USA (16-11, 10-5 SBC) took a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-18 win in the opening set, but JMU (20-4, 14-1 SBC) rallied to win the next three sets to clinch the match. The loss marked the Jaguars' third straight on the road dating back to Oct. 28 at Troy. 

Outside hitter Hannah Maddux finished with a game-high 17 kills, and also added three digs. Maddie Soboleski recorded her eighth double-double of the season, and her second in as many contests, with 12 kills and 13 digs in addition to one block. Middle blocker Niki Capizzi added 10 kills, a .259 hitting percentage, one dig and three blocks.

Setter Kailey Keeble finished with 41 assists, along with six digs, one kill, one service ace and two blocks. Paige Lynn tied her career high with a game-high 19 digs, and also added two service aces and one assist. Libero Rachel Hickey finished with 12 digs, one service ace and two assists. 

JMU totaled 15 team blocks in the match, led by Cameryn Jones' 10. The Dukes posted a .275 team hitting percentage, while the Jaguars hit .147 in four sets.

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Saturday, when it faces James Madison at noon (CT) in Harrisonburg, Va., in its regular-season finale.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the loss:
"I thought early on we served great and our offense was pretty on point. We hit a lot of balls at them and scored a lot, so it was a perfect storm for us. We just made too many errors, otherwise I felt like we were in command. They kind of gashed us at a certain point of the game in some serving and reception. As the game went on, we just have to make sure we're putting our setter in the box a little bit more to allow us to have a few more options. I like how we responded and rebounded as the sets went on in our serve receive, but they (JMU) were feeling it and were aggressive so kudos to them."

- On rebounding in the regular-season finale:
"At the end of the day, we're about to enter the Sun Belt (Conference) tournament, and this is one of the teams that has been doing really well in our conference. I think for us, we get to see another great team and work to get better off of them. We have to position ourselves to be formidable and keep on learning about our opponent, and put ourselves in a position that if we can match up with them at the end of the Sun Belt tournament that we know each other well enough to where it is a drag out. We have some work to do, but not insurmountable. I feel like we're big and strong and can do stuff too, tonight was just their night."

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