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FOLEY, Ala. – South Alabama volleyball defeated Coastal Carolina in straight sets in Friday's Sun Belt Conference Championship quarterfinal matchup at Foley Events Center.

USA (18-12) advanced to the SBC Championship semifinal round with the win, and will face the winner of Louisiana and Texas State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Jaguars took a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-21 win in the opening set, and commanded a 2-0 lead with a 25-13 win in set two. South Alabama then won the third set 25-12 to earn the win, which marked its second sweep of CCU this season. The win marked USA's third straight against Coastal Carolina, which represents its longest win streak in the all-time series with the Chanticleers.

South Alabama posted a .347 team hitting percentage, while the CCU hit .040. The Jaguar defense recorded 14 total blocks versus the Chanticleer's three.

Hannah Maddux finished with a game-high 13 kills, a .393 hitting percentage, two digs and one block. Maddie Soboleski recorded 11 kills, a career-best .400 hitting percentage, one assist, one service ace, five digs and two blocks. Niki Capizzi added seven kills, a .538 hitting percentage, one assist, four digs and seven blocks.

Kailey Keeble recorded her 20th double-double of the season, finishing with a game-high 31 assists and 10 digs, in addition to one kill, one service ace and three blocks. Libero Rachel Hickey posted a game-high 18 digs, and also added one kill, one service ace and five assists. Lillie Simons totaled a career-high seven blocks, along with five kills.

The win marked South Alabama's fifth straight in the SBC Championship dating back to last year.

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Saturday at 6:30 p.m. when it faces the winner of the Louisiana and Texas State contest. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and available through the ESPN app, as well as via links through the 'Championships' tab at SunBeltSports.org and the Jaguar schedule page at USAJaguars.com.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the win:
"Coastal Carolina is very formidable. They have a lot of arm speed and talent. Ella Saada is, in my opinion, one of the best players in our conference. Our group was really dialed in; I could tell they were really down for the fight. It was our night tonight, it was awesome."

- On the keys to the win:
"One of the biggest things, you look at the hitters and how well they're doing and see that Hannah (Maddux) and (Maddie) Soboleski are hitting essentially .400 on the left pin, that's just ungodly, and Lillie (Simons) hitting .385 on the other pin. We were super efficient on the pins, and no mistake about it Kailey Keeble had great decision making and being super hittable, and our passers and defenders putting her in a spot where she could do that. It was pretty awesome."

- On tomorrow's semifinal match:
"At the end of the day you have to play your best games right now. We know that all roads are going to lead through Louisiana, Texas State and then the other side of the bracket. Just whoever is in front of us, we'll do the very best we can and they're going to have to do the same with us. Everybody has to play their A-game and whoever does that is going to win. I'm excited about tonight for sure."

FOLLOW THE JAGS
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