MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama earned its fourth-straight Sun Belt Conference series sweep Friday night with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-18) victory over Louisiana at Jag Gym.
The win extends the Jaguars (12-8, 8-2 SBC) season-best win streak to eight matches, as the club has also now won 11 of its last 14. The win also helps South maintain its SBC West Division lead as it will now head out on the road for the first of four-straight matches away from Mobile.
The trio of
Abryanna Cannon (12),
Sarah Gooch (11) and
Maradith O'Gorman (11) led the offensive attack. Cannon added 10 digs for her fifth-straight double-double and her team-leading ninth of the fall, while hitting .314 (12-1-35). O'Gorman was even better in the efficiency category as she had 11 kills on 14 attacks and just one error for a , 714 hitting percentage – the fourth-highest in program history in a single match and the best ever by a Jag against a Sun Belt Conference opponent.
Like Cannon, junior setter
Anna Loberg also carded her fifth-straight double-double with 33 assists and 10 digs, while adding three aces and five block assists.
Lillie Simons recorded a match-high seven total blocks – two solo and five assists. She now has recorded five or more blocks nine times this season and 20 times in her Jaguar career, while leading the club in the category 28 times.
Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "I thought we had great defense tonight. Louisiana came at us pretty hard in the first set, and we had to ride the wave of all that adrenaline from them. As things kind of calmed down, we maintained our level of play and I felt like we surpassed them on that. It was a good night for us and I loved the fact that we had our alumni here, and I loved the fact that we could do it in Jag Gym when everyone's here to celebrate the 50th season of our sport here at South is pretty special."
- On putting the Alumni Weekend together and the impact of it: "When I first got here in 2021, it was a goal of ours to get our alumni outreach going and make those connections. We initially had six young women come back and over time we've been able to build it up where that number has grown. They paved the way for us to have these types of opportunities, so it was very special to have this one tonight for all of them."
- On the four-match road stretch coming up: "This is the time we have to separate ourselves in the Sun Belt. We're all working to make the (Sun Belt) tournament with seeding, but we're also putting a body of work up for the NCAA tournament. At the end of the day, you just have to go out and do the best you can, regardless of the opponent. Focus on yourself, and if you're playing well, and do that consistently, you're going to do pretty good."
Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Gooch
- On the key to the success of the team as of late: "I think we're working really hard. We're starting to set a standard for ourselves. We wanted to get the match done in three (sets) and show that we could put together a complete match and a clean one, and I think we did that tonight."
- On her play: "Anna (Lobeg) is just dishing out great balls. We have great passing. Bri (Wilson) is playing great defense in the back court. Anna can't go wrong with any position she gives the ball to us. She's spreading out the offense and we're all getting some love."
- On what she feels has helped her efficiency: "We work on (being efficient) a lot at practice. If you like the set, get a good swing on it. If it's not there, don't try to get a kill on things that aren't there for you to get a kill."
Graduate senior middle hitter Lillie Simons
- On the recent success: "I think we've grown a lot together. We started off the season all new to each other for the most part, so it's been really exciting to grow together. These girls are great and we've done a great job of learning from each other, and getting used to playing next to each other. Obviously, it seems to have paid off."
- On her solid play in the middle: "I just feel more comfortable out there than I have in years past. My teammates set me up for success every time on the pass and set. It's inspiring to be able to play well when you have others playing well."
- On how she feeds off fellow middle hitter
Dalayla Blackwell: "We call it 'Middle Telepathy'. We have each other's back. In practice, we just work hard and never take a play off. We just try to get better every single day."
How It Happened
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Louisiana 16
• Tied 7-7 early on in the opening set, the Jaguars erupted for a 7-0 run
• Gooch – who had four kills in the first set – slammed home a kill to ignite the Jag run
• Loberg followed with a kill and Gooch then teamed up with
Dalayla Blackwell for a block forcing a time out
• O'Gorman followed with back-to-back kills and Blackwell capped off the scoring spurt with a kill of her own to put the Jags up 14-7
• Holding a six-point lead (16-10), South Alabama put the set away with a 4-0 run that included a pair of block assists by O'Gorman and Simons
• Simons later sealed the 25-16 win with her second kill of the night
• O'Gorman paced the Jags with five kills in the opening frame and had an .833 hitting percentage, while as a team, South Alabama posted a .371 hitting percentage with 14 kills on 35 attacks and just one error
• The Jags held the Cajuns to a .100 hitting percentage and had a solo block and four block assists
Set 2 – South Alabama 25, Louisiana 19
• Neither team was able to gain any separation through the first part of the second set, until the Jags pushed across five-straight points after the frame was tied 10-10 – the 10th tie
• O'Gorman and Simons each had a kill to start the run and Cannon put away the next two points with a pair of kills
• Louisiana pulled within one (16-15) after a South Alabama attack error, but the Jags answered back and took the next four points
• Loberg teamed up with Simons and Blackwell for a pair of blocks and Gooch followed with a pair of kills to extend the South lead to 20-15
• The Ragin' Cajuns narrowed the Jag lead to three (21-18) after an ace from Megan Hawkins, but O'Gorman (kill) and Cannon (two kills) recorded the next three points to put South at set point
• Three points later, Cannon sealed the 25-19 second-set with a solo block
• Cannon recorded six of her 11 kills on the night in the set
• South again hit over .300 posting a .316 hitting percentage
Set 3 – South Alabama 25, Louisiana 18
• UL led 11-10 in the third set, but South pushed across four unanswered points and too a 14-11 lead after a kill by Cannon
• The Ragin' Cajuns answered with a three-point run of their own to tied the set back up at 14-14, but on the ensuing point O'Gorman gave South the lead for good with back-to-back kills
• Loberg later recorded her third ace of the night to put the Jags at match point, and Gooch then slammed home her 11th kill to clinch the straight-set win
• Cannon led the way offensively for the second-straight set with four kills in the third, while Gooch and O'Gorman were credited with three each
• Simons had two kills and three total blocks – two solo and one assists
Post-Match Notes
• The meeting marked the 61st in the all-time series and the 26th in Mobile
• South Alabama has now won seven straight in the all-time series, the longest win streak in the series by the Jags
• The series sweep also marked the fourth-straight conference series sweep for South Alabama (ULM, Texas State, Southern Miss, Louisiana)
• The double-doubles marked the fifth-straight for both Cannon and Loberg, marking the duo as the first Jags to do so since
Kailey Keeble had seven-straight last fall
• Cannon has double-digit kill tallies in 15 of her 20 matches, including 10 of her last 11
• Cannon has also had nine or more digs in 11 of her last 13 matches, including in each of her last five
• With her 11 kill, 10 dig performance, Cannon (496) is four kills shy of reaching 500 at South Alabama, and one dig (499) shy of 500 for her career
• O'Gorman has recorded eight or more kills in 13 of her last 14 outings, and double figures in five of her last six
• The .714 hitting percentage by O'Gorman in the match was the fourth-highest by a Jag in program history (minimum 10 attempts) and the highest since Hannah Harris set the single-match record (.929, 13-0-14, vs. Alabama State, 9/11/18)
• It is a new program record for a Jag in a Sun Belt Conference match
• In her last nine matches (all starts), Blackwell has committed just 15 attack errors in her 121 offensive attacks
• Wilson has recorded 13 or more digs in 13-straight matches
• Simons (228) is six block assists shy of matching Angela Gattis (234, 1999-02) for ninth at South in the category
• Gooch has recorded nine or more kills in 11 of her last 14 matches, including eight of her last nine, and seven in double figures over the 13-match stretch
• Over her last 12 matches, Simons has recorded 107 kills and 74 total blocks, a total of 49 sets
• The middle hitter duo of Blackwell and Simons have combined for 172 kills and 106 blocks over that same stretch (49 sets)
• Cannon now has a team-best 25 sets with four or more kills, while O'Gorman has 15 and Gooch has 13
Up Next
• South Alabama will head out on the road for the first of four-straight away from Mobile. The Jags will open up the two-match series at James Madison on Friday with first serve set for 4 p.m. (CT) at the Convocation Center, and then face the Dukes at 11 a.m. (CT) on Saturday.
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