MOBILE, Ala. | Abryanna Cannon posted her fifth double-double of the season and Maradith O'Gorman also ended in double figures as South Alabama completed the series sweep of Texas State Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 (26-24, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21) victory at Jag Gym.

With the win, South Alabama (8-8, 4-2 SBC) evened its overall record and moved into a three-way tie for second place in the West Division with Texas State (10-7, 4-2 SBC) and Southern Miss, one match win behind division leader Arkansas State who sits at 5-1 in the conference.

Cannon led the club with 13 kills and also added 11 digs to go along with a pair of aces. O'Gorman had 10 kills on 22 attempts and posted a .364 hitting percentage with five digs and seven total blocks – one solo and six assists.

Sarah Gooch and Dalayla Blackwell had nine kills each, while Gooch had three total blocks, including two solo, and Blackwell had five total blocks – one solo and four assists. Lillie Simons paced the Jags at the net defensively with eight blocks – two solo and six assists as South held a 16.0-10.0 advantage in the category.

Briana Wilson led South with 19 digs, and junior setter Anna Loberg added 42 assists and a match-high three aces.

Jade Defraeye and Samantha Wunsch led Texas State with 11 kills, while MJ McCurdy finished just shy of double figures with nine kills and a match-high 22 digs. 

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On his thoughts on the match: "I thought we were able to get out ahead on a few runs. Texas State really passed better and made less errors than they did last night, and you saw that in how close the scores were today. This was another dog-fight and they're a serious team. I'm really proud of our group today; they really showed up."

- On the confidence of this team: "We're still growing as a squad, there's no doubt about it. We're still young as a group and we have a lot of tenacity, grit and grind. We'll take some lumps still, but that's how you learn. We talked about that after the match. We're going to have to go through some adversity if we're going to be better in later matches. It's tough to go through those things, but I'm glad we came out ahead today. I appreciate all of them staying in the fight and putting their heads down and rutting their teammates on."

- On the performance of Abryanna Cannon today and this weekend: "AB has always been a force for us this season. With her, we know we always have a chance of winning matches. She's our emotional leader, she's a high-point earner, she's a six-rotation player who passes the ball and plays defense. Watching her work and go inspires a lot of our young women on our team. I'm just happy she's a Jag."

Graduate senior outside hitter Abryanna Cannon
- On keys today's win: "We were able to rally a lot throughout the match. We were also really good with our serve-and-pass. Our service pressure really put Texas State out of system a lot, which allowed us to capitalize on the block. We were also able to dial in our passes and put them in the pocket where we could distribute the ball."

- On what she takes away from her two matches this weekend: "It's my seventh season, so it's nice to have a performance this weekend like I did against one of the top teams, and protect our house. It was a really good team effort this weekend and I enjoyed being part of it."

Redshirt freshman middle blocker Dalayla Blackwell
- On her increased role and impact as of late: "Having not played last season after redshirting, it's a big deal to me. I've worked and worked in the offseason to put myself into this position, and I'm happy that coach trusts me to be out there. I just want to go out there and make my team proud. We work really hard as a group and we really deserved this win today. I just wanted to come on the court and make an impact for my team."

- On the confidence of the team right now: "The confidence level of our team right now is way above where it was at the beginning of the season. I feel that I've had a lot to do with that. I'm a ball of energy and as soon as I get on the court, I just want to pass that along to my teammates. Every time I'm doing something good on the court, I just want to get excited and be there for my teammates at the end of the day."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 26, Texas State 24
•    With the opening set tied 8-8, Texas State three-straight points to start a 6-1 run, which saw South Alabama commit four attack errors and two Bobcat blocks
•    Coming out of the media timeout, the Jags were able to cut the Texas State lead to 16-13 after and ace by Cannon
•    The Bobcats led by five (19-14), but Jags rallied back again with six of the next seven points to pull within one (20-19) after a kill by Cannon
•    Blackwell began the run with a kill and had a block, while O'Gorman also had a solo block and a block assist during the scoring spurt
•    South kept chipping away at the deficit and tied the set back up at 21-21 on another kill by Cannon and then on the next, the Novi, Mich., native recorded her sixth of the set to give the Jaguars the lead
•    Tied at 24-24, the Jags were able to push across the final two points as Loberg and Simons combined for a block and Gooch registered a kill to seal the two-point win
•    Cannon led the club with six of her 13 kills in the match in the opening frame

Set 2 – Texas State 25, South Alabama 20
•    The Bobcats grabbed two of the first three points of the second set, but South Alabama responded with a 8-2 run over the next 10 points to reclaim the lead
•    During the run, O'Gorman had a pair of kills and a block assists, while Cannon also had a pair of kills and Briana Wilson added back-to-back aces
•    Cannon second kill capped off the early scoring with a kill to give the Jags the 9-4 advantage
•    Texas State battled back and tied the set back up after back-to-back Jaguar attack errors, and then took its first lead of the set (13-12) on the next point after a solo block by Bailey Hanner
•    McCurdy capped off a 10-3 Bobcat run on the next point with a solo block 
•    South aided the run for the visitors with six attack errors, three coming blocks by Texas State
•    After a kill by Gooch, Texas State continued to hold the momentum, pushing across four-straight points to hold a 18-13 lead after an Anna Blaine kill
•    Erika Spankus recorded back-to-back kills for South and was responsible for the Jags' next four points – three kills and an ace, the latter trimming the deficit to 20-17 
•    The Bobcats went on to even the match at a set apiece with the 25-20 win in the second set 
•    South Alabama committed 10 attack errors in the frame and Texas State recorded four total blocks, holding the Jags to a .026 hitting percentage, while posting a .306 percentage offensively

Set 3 – South Alabama 25, Texas State 22
•    Texas State led 8-7 early on in the third set, but on the next point, Blackwell ignited a 7-0 run for South
•    The redshirt freshman middle blocker had two kills and two block assists during the scoring for the Jags and Loberg capped things off and put South Alabama up 14-8 with her second ace of the run
•    The Bobcats came right back with five unanswered points to trim the deficit to one, but Blackwell slammed home another kill and then teamed up with O'Gorman on a block
•    Simons later gave South a 19-14 lead with a solo block, but Texas State again fought its way back, picking up five of the next six points to pull with in one (20-19) and force a South Alabama time out
•    Coming out of a time out, Cannon ended the run with a kill and then after a Bobcat point, Gooch posted a kill and solo block on an attempted dump by Bobcat setter Ryann Torres
•    O'Gorman later clinched the 25-22 third-set win with her eighth kill of the match
•    South Alabama's defense held the Bobcats to a .075 hitting percentage in the frame
•    Blackwell had five of South's 14 kills in the frame

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Texas State 21
•    With the two clubs tied 4-4 early on in the fourth and final set, South Alabama broke things open with an 11-0 run
•    Simons got the scoring going with a kill, and then after three-straight Bobcat errors, Cannon dropped in an ace
•    Texas State then committed six more attack errors, the last coming on a combined block assist by Loberg and Simons, which gave the Jaguars a 17-6
•    The Bobcats answered back with a 7-0 to pull within 17-13, but coming out of a time out, Gooch ended the run of unanswered points for the Bobcats with a kill
•    After a lengthy review confirmed Gooch's kill, Loberg recorded an ace and Blackwell slammed home a kill to extend the Jag advantage to 20-13
•    Texas State cut the deficit to 20-17, but Gooch had a solo block and the Bobcats then followed with another error, one of their 14 in the set
•    Leading by two (23-21), South Alabama pushed across the final two points of the match as Cannon posted another kill and Simons and Loberg combined for another block, sealing the 25-21 victory

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 22nd in the all-time series, and South Alabama how holds a 6-4 series advantage at Jag Gym
•    The series sweep marked just the second time the Jags have defeated the Bobcats twice in the same season (2021)
•    The 11-0 run in the fourth set was the largest run of the season for the Jags 
•    Cannon (791) is just nine kills shy of reaching 800 for her collegiate career
•    Cannon has posted double-digit kill 11 times this fall and has led the club in kills on 10 occasions, to go along with five double-doubles
•    Cannon has also had nine or more digs in seven of her last nine matches
•    With her six kills in the opening set, Cannon has had six or more kills in eight matches 
•    With her 10 kills, O'Gorman (408) surpassed the 400-kill mark for her career
•    O'Gorman has recorded eight or more kills in 10 of her last 12 outings
•    Simons (296) is just four kills shy of 300 for her career
•    Over her last eight matches, Simons has recorded 76 kills and 59 total blocks
•    Loberg (620) eclipsed the 600-dig mark for her career
•    Addison Hurst (194) is six digs shy of 200 for her career after recording nine against Texas State
•    Gooch has had nine or more kills in eight of her last 10 matches
•    Wilson has recorded 13 or more digs in nine-straight after her 19-dig performance

Up Next
•    South Alabama will head out on the road for a two-match road series at Southern Miss. The Jags will open the series with the Golden Eagles on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Southern Miss Wellness Center and then close out the series on Friday at 6 p.m.

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