MOBILE, Ala. | Sarah Gooch, Abryanna Cannon and Maradith O'Gorman combined to record 46 kills as South Alabama rallied back Friday night to win a five-set thriller, 3-2 (22-25, 19-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-6) at Jag Gym.

With the win, the Jaguars (15-10, 11-4 SBC) remain perfect in Sun Belt Conference play at home, and have won 11 of their last 13 matches.

Gooch led South with 17 kills, while also adding four total blocks – one solo and three assists. Cannon carded her 13th double-double of the season, and her eighth in her last nine matches with 14 kills and 15 digs. Gooch and Cannon also each had two of the Jaguars' seven aces in the match. O'Gorman chipped in with 15 kills and posted a .394 hitting percentage as she committed just two attack errors in her 33 attempts.

Junior setter Anna Loberg posted her eighth double-double of the fall with 48 assists and 14 digs to go along with three block assists. Briana Wilson led all players with 26 digs as South Alabama had 89. Lillie Simons had seven kills and seven total blocks – two solo and five assists as the Jags held a 14.0-9.0 advantage in the category.

Coastal Carolina (11-16, 6-9 SBC) was led offensively by Agata Lesiak and Emily Fowler, who each had 15 kills in the loss. Jalyn Stout posted her 14th triple-double of the season with 14 kills, 29 assists and 17 digs. 

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the comeback: "I thought it took a lot of guts for our team to come back in this match. We talked about that in our last huddle. At this point in the season, you sometimes get tested. We've been tested the last week or so, and our points have been tight. You just have to find some fortitude (in those matches). The better teams are going to find ways to win those matches, and I think we were the better team tonight."

- On how big it is to play another five-set match: "It's big because you get to gain more experience. Don't get me wrong, we'd liked to have won the match in three (sets), but I was glad to see the tenacity of our group. I thought we started (the match) off a little flat, but we started picking it up. When our backs were against the wall, they came out of it, and I'm so proud of the group."

- On the crowd's impact in the comeback: "Jag Gym is our seventh player. The fans were great. The stands were full and kept cheering for us. I love our fans, I love our community. They've been coming out for us each season. Tonight was a big one and we really appreciate them."

Graduate senior outside hitter Abryanna Cannon
- On what helped the team 'gut' out the win: "During the fourth set when we were down, the main concept for us was that good teams win, but great teams find a way to win when things aren't going great. I think we proved to ourselves and others in our conference that we're a force to be reckoned with. It's really great timing for us as we head towards the conference tournament. It gives us confidence to go in and finish the job."

- On the feelings during the fourth set: "Everyone in the gym could feel that we were struggling a little bit. We just got a spark of energy and kept feeding off each other. We played great defense and gave each other a lot of second chances. Anna (Loberg} was making really smart decisions."

Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Gooch
- On the fourth-set rally: "We knew that wasn't us, and we knew we were playing super-unclean volleyball, and that's what we've been working hard to not do. We had some players come up big off the bench. We told each other that it takes all of us. We had to get as gritty as we could."

- On how huge the win is: "The win proved a lot to us. We went on a long win streak, and then tonight we were able to show that we were able to bounce back after two tough losses (at Arkansas State). It's huge to have this momentum heading into the conference tournament."

- On the home-court advantage at Jag Gym: "We love Jag Gym and we love the fans. They make it tough on our opponents and we definitely use it to our advantage."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – Coastal Carolina 25, South Alabama 22
•    Tied at 8-8, Coastal Carolina was the first to go on a run, rattling off five-straight points to take a 13-8 lead after block assists from Unal and Stout
•    O'Gorman kill ended run and Gooch dropped in an ace as South Alabama attempted to claw its way back
•    South trimmed the deficit to one after Gooch kill and then tied the set back up at 16-16 after a Cannon ace when the Chants were called out of rotation on the serve
•    CCU regained the momentum as it took the next two points after kills by Fowler and Lesiak
•    The Chanticleers later held set point (24-20) after another kill by Lesiak, one of her four in the set
•    The Jags were able to fight off two set points after block assists by Cannon and Simons, and then a kill by Simons – one of her four in the frame – but Fowler clinched the 25-22 first-set win on the next point with another kill 

Set 2 – Coastal Carolina 25, South Alabama 19
•    The second set was tied (3-3) early on, but the Chanticleers began a 10-2 run with five-straight points to take a 13-5 lead
•    Coastal later led by nine (16-7) after another kill by Fowler, one of her five in the set
•    The Jags answered with four-straight points to cut deficit to 16-11 after a solo block by Simons
•    Coming out of a time out though, CCU regained momentum with five-straight points 
•    Fowler began the scoring spurt with a kill and Emma Van Elslande had a pair of aces to extend the Chanticleer advantage to double figures (21-11)
•    South Alabama was able to cut deficit to six (23-17), but Coastal picked up two of the next three points to go up 2-0 in the match 

Set 3 – South Alabama 25, Coastal Carolina 19
•    Coastal took the opening point in the third set, but the Jags answered right back with eight of the next nine points
•    O'Gorman began a run of five-straight points for South with back-to-back kills
•    South Alabama later led by eight (11-3) and coming out of a time out, Coastal reeled off four-straight points after a pair of Fowler kills and two Jaguar attack errors to pull within four 
•    CCU later cut South lead to 15-12 after the Jags were called for a net violation on Stouts kill attempt
•    O'Gorman though stopped the run of unanswered points on the next point
•    The kill by O'Gorman ignited another run for the Jaguars as they pushed across eight of the next 10 points to extend their lead out to nine 
•    Loberg and Simons teamed up for their second block of the run to cap off the scoring and give South a 23-14 advantage
•    Gooch later sealed the win with her 10th kill of the match to take the third set, 25-19
•    O'Gorman had the hot hand in the third set as she had six kills and hit .600 in the set

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Coastal Carolina 21
•    Coastal opened up the fourth set with five-unanswered points, three of which came on kills by Lesiak, and nine of the first 10 points of the set
•    The Chanticleers later extended their lead out to double digits (13-3) and looked as if they were going to run away from the Jaguars
•    The Jags kept fighting though and cut the deficit to 16-10 after O'Gorman and Simons teamed up for a block
•    CCU extended its lead out to eight (20-12) after a pair of South Alabama attack errors, but that is where the Jags would mount their comeback
•    South erupted for 12-straight points during to rally back and take the lead
•    Gooch ignited the run with a kill, and Margo Hernandez then held serve for the next 11 points, recording an ace during the scoring run
•    Gooch then tied the set back up (20-20) and gave the Jags the lead with back-to-back kills
•    After leading the club back with her offense, the Apopka, Fla., native let her defense cap off the run as she teamed up with Aniston Cochran for a block and then posted a solo block to put South at set point (24-20)
•    Cochran then finished things off with a kill, as the Jags closed out the set with 13 of the final 14 points of the fourth set, to even the match back up at 2-2
•    Gooch had five kills and three total blocks – one solo and two assists – in the pivotal fourth set
•    The Jaguar defense held Coastal to a .114 hitting percentage and forced eight attack errors

Set 5 – South Alabama 15, Coastal Carolina 6
•    Riding the momentum of the comeback in the previous set, South grabbed six of the first seven points
•    O'Gorman's ace capped off the run and gave the Jags a 7-1 lead
•    Coast battled back and trimmed the Jaguar advantage to three (8-5), but Addison Hurst made a diving save to keep the rally alive and Gooch paid her off with a kill to end the run
•    CCU later looked as if it had cut it to three again at 10-7, but replay showed O'Gorman's attack went off a Chanticleer defender and the call was reversed
•    The reversal ignited another run as South Alabama recorded the final five points
•    Cannon had a pair of kills, O'Gorman posted a solo block and Gooch recorded an ace to end the match (15-6)
•    South Alabama posted its best offensive percentage at .318 committing just one error
•    Coastal Carolina was held to a .000 percentage as it had five errors

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 21st in the all-time series and the 11th in Mobile
•    South Alabama has now won 11 of its last 13 matches and 14 of its last 19 
•    Over last four seasons under head coach Jesse Ortiz, the Jags have posted a 40-4 record for a 90.9 home-court win percentage at Jag Gym
•    This season, South holds an 8-1 record on its home floor and a 7-0 mark in league play
•    With her 48 assists, Loberg (1,011) eclipsed the 1,000 assists mark for her career
•    Cannon has double-digit kill tallies in 20 of her 25 matches, including 15 of her last 16
•    Cannon has also had nine or more digs in 15 of her last 18 matches, including nine of her last 10 in double figures
•    Cannon has recorded a double-double in nine of her last n10 matches, while Loberg has had a double-double in six of her last 10
•    Gooch has recorded nine or more kills in 15 of her last 19 matches, including 12 of her last 14, and 11 in double figures over the 19-match stretch
•    Hurst has had 94 digs off the bench over her last 11 matches
•    O'Gorman has recorded eight or more kills in 16 of her last 19 outings
•    O'Gorman (206) reached the 200-dig mark for her career
•    Wilson has recorded 15 or more digs in 16-straight entering the series, and as had 20-plus digs in each of her last four matches (98 digs)
•    Wilson (602) now has over 600 digs for her career
•    Simons (354) reached the 350-kill mark for her career
•    Simons (240) moved past Morgan Stalcup (236, 2017-22) for eighth at South in the category

Up Next
•    South Alabama will close out the series versus Coastal Carolina at 1 p.m. at Jag Gym. Following the match, both Cannon and Simons will be recognized as part of Senior Day.

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