NACOGDOCHES, Texas – South Alabama volleyball defeated McNeese State in five sets Saturday to close play at the SFA Invitational at Shelton Gym.

UP NEXT
South Alabama (3-3) will face Houston at 10 a.m. Fri., Sept. 9, when it opens play at the Bulldog Invitational in Starkville, Miss. 

McNeese State took a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-22 win in set one. The Cowgirls earned set point at 24-20 on a kill by Mikayla Christensen, and clinched the set 25-22 on a kill by Christensen. South Alabama evened the match 1-1 with a 25-18 win in set two. Maddie Soboleski and Hannah Maddux recorded four kills apiece in the set, and Kailey Keeble recorded 11 assists. The Jags earned set point at 24-17 on a kill by Maddux, and clinched the set 25-18 on a kill by Niki Capizzi.

USA then took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-17 win in set three, led by five kills in the set by Maddux. Keeble posted 14 assists in the set, and Rachel Hickey recorded eight digs. The Jags earned set point at 24-14 on a kill by Maddux, and clinched the set 25-17 on a kill by Morgan Stalcup.

McNeese answered with a 25-20 win in set four to even the match at 2-2, aided by a Jaguar attack percentage of -.067. But South Alabama responded with a 15-11 win in the fifth and final set to claim the 3-2 victory. Soboleski tallied four kills in the fifth set, Keeble recorded five digs and Capizzi posted two blocks.

NOTES
- Keeble finished posted fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 57 assists and 21 digs, along with one kill, one solo block and one block-assist. 
- Soboleski recorded her third double-double of the year, finishing with 17 kills and 19 digs along with two service aces, one solo block and two block-assists.
- Capizzi posted a season-high 14 kills and .419 hitting percentage, in addition to one dig and four block-assists.
- The win snapped a two-game Jaguar losing skid.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the win:
"I thought the team fought hard, just like they did yesterday. I think the difference in today and yesterday was just the precision of the plays that we made, whether that is ball-handling or attacking prowess or setting, and I think the energy showed in being vested in muscling out a win. They didn't want to go winless in the tournament, and I thought the tenacity was something else. I was proud of them."

- On prepping for next weekend's tournament at Mississippi State:
"This is just the progression of our season. We're going to work on getting better every week. We definitely have some tests coming up this next week, and we're really geared up and looking forward to it. But there's no easy matches here in the preseason for us and that's what we signed on for. We're excited about the opportunity, and more so just the opportunity to get better."

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