MOBILE, Ala. | Sarah Gooch recorded a career-high 25 kills, but it wasn't enough as Coastal Carolina outlasted the South Alabama, handing the Jaguars their first conference home loss of the season with a 3-2 (19-25, 30-28, 29-27, 21-25, 16-14) decision Saturday afternoon at Jag Gym on Senior Day.

South Alabama will now enter the postseason with a 15-11 mark, and as the third seed in the SBC West Division after posting an 11-5 mark in league play. The Jaguars will open up postseason play at the Sun Belt Conference Championship on Friday at 7 p.m. versus Georgia Southern, who earned the second seed in the East Division.

Tickets may be purchased online through the Foley Sports Tourism Box Office, and are sold on a daily basis and are $10 per day for adults and $5 per day for children ages 12 and under. Students of Sun Belt Conference institutions are admitted free with a valid student ID. 

In addition to her 25 kills, Gooch also led the club with six block assists. Abryanna Cannon recorded her 14th double-double of the season with 14 kills and 10 digs, while Lillie Simons had 14 kills and six total blocks – one solo and five assists. Maradith O'Gorman recorded her second career double-double and her first as a Jag with 12 kills and 12 digs. Aniston Cochran, making her first career start, had nine kills and six total blocks – one solo and five assists, while also posting a .381 hitting percentage.

Anna Loberg also had a double-double with a career-high 65 assists and 19 digs, which also matched a career high for the junior setter. Briana Wilson recorded her fourth-straight 20-plus dig match with 26.

Agata Lesiak led Coastal Carolina (12-16, 7-9 SBC) with 22 kills and four block assists. Emily Fowler and Jayln Stout finished with 19 kills, while the latter recorded her 15th double-double of the season with 33 assists and 25 digs, and three service aces. Sydney Lewis registered a match-high 44 of the Chanticleers 106 digs.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "In sets two and three, I felt like we gave (Coastal Carolina) to much of a lead. I love the fact that we fought back; there's a lot of grit in our group and you could see it. I loved how we handled the pressure, and I felt like we were able to get more seasoned off of it. We put ourselves in position to try to win the last set. We were a little behind and I think that was the difference there, but the fight was strong in us. I think that kind of fight's going to carry us forward in the postseason. We're looking forward to the third round in terms of our season. I'm very proud of my group."

- On what Abryanna Cannon and Lillie Simons have meant to the program: "I've known Abryanna (Cannon) since she was an eighth-grader. Watching her progression and following her, and then being able to reconnect these past two seasons has been special for me to have her at this last stage of her career. She's a big part of what makes this program special. 

"As a coach, you can't be any prouder of somebody like Lillie (Simons), who has worked her tail off to become a great volleyball player. It's not the norm to have a lefty middle. You have to put a lot of grind in your craft to master it, to be a starter and to be such an impactful player in our conference. I'm so proud of her and she's so amazing. I'm so blessed to have both her and Abryanna in my life and them be a part of this program. We're not done yet. We still have more season left, so we want to be able to celebrate a little bit more." 

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Coastal Carolina 19
•    Coastal led by one (4-3) early on in the opening set, but South Alabama was able to push across six of the next seven points to take a 9-5 lead
•    Lillie Simons had a pair of kills, and Cannon and O'Gorman also posted a kill for the first four points of the run for South, and CCU then committed back-to-back attack errors
•    The Chants tied the set back up (10-10) after block assists from Stout and DiLara Unal, and then retook the lead (12-11) three points later after a Jaguar attack error
•    South Alabama answered right back though with a 6-0 run as Cochran – making her first start – recorded three kills during the scoring spurt, the last putting the Jags up 17-12
•    Coastal Carolina was able to hang around and trimmed the Jag lead to 21-19 after kills by Stout and Lesiak – who had six kills in the set – but that was as close as the Chanticleers were able to get as South closed the set on a 4-0 run
•    Cochran dropped in a kill and Gooch followed with one of her own
•    O'Gorman slammed home an attack to give the Jaguars set point and Gooch hammered one off the block to seal the 25-19 first-set win
•    The South Alabama middle hitter combo of Cochran (6) and Simons (5) combined for 11 of the clubs 20 kills in the frame
•    Loberg dished out 17 assists – her most in a set this fall – as the Jags hit .320 as a team, committing just four errors in their 50 attacks

Set 2 – Coastal Carolina 30, South Alabama 28
•    Coastal Carolina used a 9-1 run to grab the early momentum in the second set
•    Fowler had pair of kills and a solo block and Lesiak added two of her own, and the duo capped off the run with a block to put the Chants up 11-3
•    South Alabama began to try to rally back, first with a 6-3 run which included three kills by Gooch
•    The Jags later cut the deficit to 16-13 after kills by Simons and Cannon, and an ace by O'Gorman
•    The Chanticleers quickly regained the momentum though with five unanswered points, extending its lead back out to seven (20-13) after two-straight aces by Stout
•    South then reeled off an 11-3 run over the next 14 points to grab the lead and hold set point
•    Cannon ignited the run with a solo block, and Gooch then posted a pair of kills
•    Cochran also had a solo block and then twice teamed up with Gooch for a block
•    The Jags tied the set back up at 23-23 after back-to-back CCU attack errors and then went up 24-23 after an ace by Gooch
•    Both teams had their chances in extra points, but the Chants were able to even the match back up at a set apiece after a kill by Lesiak and she then teamed up with Unal for a block to seal the 30-28 set win
•    Fowler had eight kills in the set for CCU and posted a .667 hitting percentage 
•    Cannon (6) and Gooch (5) combined for 11 kills in the frame for the Jags

Set 3 – Coastal Carolina 29, South Alabama 27
•    Tied (4-4) early in the third set, Coastal Carolina was the first to gain separation, rattling off a 10-0 run
•    After a Jaguar serving error, Lesiak recorded a kill and the Chant defense then recorded back-to-back solo blocks
•    Fowler, who also had a kill, capped off the run and put CCU up by double figures (14-4) after two-straight aces
•    Trailing 22-15, the Jaguars got hot and erupted on an 8-0 run to retake the lead
•    Cannon got things going with a kill, and after a pair of kills by Gooch, Loberg recorded a solo block to force a Chanticleer time out
•    Coming out of the time out, Gooch again posted back-to-back kills and Simons then followed with the next three Jaguar points – a solo block and a pair of kills – to give South a 23-22 lead
•    South Alabama was able to fight off four set points, three coming off kills by Gooch, but tied 27-27, the Chanticleers were able to push across the final two points
•    Fowler posted her 12th kill of the match and Lesiak followed with her 16th to give CCU the 29-27 third-set win
•    Gooch recorded her second 10-kill set of the season, matching her third-set effort at James Madison (11/2), as the sophomore hit .429 in the frame

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Coastal Carolina 20
•    South led 7-3 early on in the fourth set after a kill and a block by Simons and a kill from Gooch
•    Behind Stout, who was responsible for four of Coastal's next five points, the Chanticleers cut the deficit to two (12-10)
•    The Jags stretched the lead back out to four (15-11) after a kill by Simons and a block assists from the graduate senior and Gooch
•    The Chanticleers pulled within one at 16-15 after a Jaguar attack error, but that was as close as they were able to get as Gooch slammed home her 22nd kill – tying a career high – and then teamed up with Cochran for a block
•    O'Gorman then posted a kill of her own to give South the 19-15 advantage
•    South Alabama held control from there and went on to even the match up with a 25-20 win after a CCU serving error

Set 5 – Coastal Carolina 16, South Alabama 14
•    Coastal grabbed the first three points of the fifth and final set with two coming off kills by Stout, and took a 6-2 lead after block assists by Fowler and Lesiak
•    Trailing by four (9-5), South Alabama came out of a time out and was sparked by a kill by Simons
•    After a Chanticleer attack error, Gooch recorded back-to-back kills to tie the frame back up at 9-9
•    The two clubs went back and forth down the stretch, and with it tied at 14-14, CCU was able to push across the final two points on kills by Lesiak and Fowler

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 22nd in the series and the 12th in Mobile
•    Following the match, Cannon and Simons were recognized as part of Senior Day festivities
•    The loss marked just the fifth at home and third in conference at Jag Gym under Ortiz
•    South finishes the season with an 8-2 mark on its home floor and 7-1 in SBC action
•    The match marked the first time South has had five players in double figures in digs since September 10, 2021 vs. Southern Miss [Rachel Hickey (19), Kailey Keeble (16), Madisen Werdell (12), Paige Lynn (11), Maddie Soboleski (11)]
•    Cannon has double-digit kill tallies in 21 of her 26 matches, including 16 of her last 17
•    Cannon has also had nine or more digs in 16 of her last 19 matches, including 10 of her last 11 in double figures
•    The double-double for Cannon was her 14th of the season and her 10th in the last 11 matches
•    The 14 double-doubles this fall are tied for eighth most in a single season at South with Mechell Daniel (2013 and 2014), and Beverly Ferren (1995)
•    The 65 assists by Loberg were a new career high for the Jag setter, the first 60-plus assists match by a Jag since Emily Hundt (65, vs. Montana, 9/5/14)
•    Loberg recorded her second double-double of the weekend and her ninth of the season as she has now had a double-double in seven of her last 11
•    A night after reaching the 1,000 career assists mark, Loberg (405) eclipsed the 400-dig mark for her career
•    Gooch has recorded nine or more kills in 16 of her last 20 matches, including 13 of her last 15, and 12 in double figures over the 20-match stretch
•    The 25 kills were a new career-high for Gooch and marked her second 20-kill match of the season
•    The 10 kills in the third set by Gooch, marked the third time and her second, that a South Alabama player has reached double-figures in a single set
•    Hurst has had 108 digs off the bench over her last 12 matches
•    O'Gorman has recorded eight or more kills in 17 of her last 20 outings
•    O'Gorman (508) also surpassed the 500-kill mark for her career
•    Wilson has recorded 15 or more digs in 17-straight, and as had 20-plus digs in each of her last five matches (126 digs)
•    Over her last 20 matches, Simons has recorded 151 kills and 100 total blocks
•    Cannon now has 36 sets with four or more kills, including 23 with five or more, while Gooch is second with 23 sets of four or more

Up Next
•    South Alabama will begin postseason play next week at the Sun Belt Conference Championship in Foley, Ala., where they will take on Georgia Southern on Friday at 7 p.m.

FOLLOW THE JAGS
For complete coverage of South Alabama Volleyball, follow the Jags on social media @SouthAlabamaVB (Twitter), /SouthAlabama (Facebook), @southalabamavb (Instagram) or visit the official home of South Alabama athletics at USAJaguars.com.