HARRISONBURG, Va. | Sarah Gooch recorded a career-high 22 kills and Abryanna Cannon posted her seventh-straight double-double to lead South Alabama to its fifth-straight Sun Belt Conference series sweep as the Jags defeated James Madison 3-1 (30-28, 15-25, 25-23, 26-24) Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.

With the win, South Alabama (14-8, 10-2 SBC) maintains at least a tie for the West Division lead with Arkansas State and extends its win streak to 10 straight. The win is also the 13th in the club's last 16 matches dating back to August 13th vs. Alabama State.

Gooch was outstanding on the offensive side of the net as she had 22 kills on 42 attacks and committed just four errors to finish with a .429 hitting percentage. Of Gooch's career-high 22 kills, 18 came over the final two sets for South Alabama.

Cannon finished with 18 kills and 10 digs for her 11th double-double of the season. Dalayla Blackwell was also solid in the middle with seven kills and a team-high .538 hitting percentage.

Jaguar setter Anna Loberg just missed a double-double of her own with a career-best 55 assists and nine digs. Briana Wilson posted her fourth 20-dig match of the fall with 21 in the win.

James Madison (10-12, 5-7 SBC) was led offensively by Bre Reid who had a career-high 30 kills and 17 digs to go along with a .328 hitting percentage. Miette Veldman also recorded double figures with 12 kills.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "I thought we were two pretty evenly matched teams following last night's match. I think (JMU's) Bre Reid is an amazing hitter, and you saw that from both the front row and the back row. The match could have gone either way, and I'm just glad it went our way."

- On Sarah Gooch's play in the final two sets: "The thing about Sarah that is the most impressive thing to me is her ability to learn on the fly and adapt, and then her willingness to go for it in matches. You'll have players who sometimes get so scared they are going to mess up, but she's always going to go for the 'W'. I love that at the end of games when she's out there, she will go for points. Abryanna (Cannon) is very similar, but I'm just pumped that I have some of those types of players taking swings at the end of the match to get us a kill. Sarah's been on a tear this season, and watching her progression has been amazing. Players like her make me look like I'm a really smart coach."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 30, James Madison 28
• Neither team was able to gain more than a two-point advantage for much of the opening frame
• Tied 17-17, James Madison pushed across three-straight points after back-to-back kills by Savannah Cockrill and an ace from Rebecca Watkins•    Tied 17-17, James Madison pushed across three-straight points after back-to-back kills by Savanah Cockrill and an ace from Rebecca Watkins
•    Maradith O'Gorman ignited a 3-0 run with a kill and Cannon followed with her fifth and sixth of the set to tie things back up at 20-20
•    James Madison grabbed the next two points to go back out in front (22-20), but the Jags kept fighting and behind the play of Cannon, surged back and forced extra points
•    Tied at 28-28 in extra points, Cannon slammed home her 10th kill of the set to put the Jags up one and then JMU's Reid's attack on the next point was off the mark
•    Like Cannon, Reid was solid leading James Madison with nine kills in the set

Set 2 – James Madison 25, South Alabama 15
•    Holding an 8-7 lead in the second set, Reid slammed home three-straight kills to give James Madison a four-point advantage (11-7)
•    Jags cut the deficit to 13-11, but the Dukes extended their lead out to five (16-11) after a pair of Veldman kills book ended an ace by Rebecca Watkins 
•    JMU later closed out the set with six of the final seven points to even the match at a set a piece with the 25-15 win
•    Reid led JMU with seven kills in the set, while Veldman had six of the Dukes 19 kills in the frame

Set 3 – South Alabama 25, James Madison 23
•    JMU took three of the first four points in the third set, but South answered back with a 9-4 run
•    Gooch provided most of the scoring for the Jags during run with five-straight points – four kills and a solo block 
•    South Alabama then took a four-point lead (12-8) after back-to-back kills by O'Gorman, and later led by six (16-10) after a kill by Gooch
•    Cut to four (16-12), but coming out of a time out Gooch recorded her 10th and 11th kills of the match
•    The Dukes kept hanging around and pulled within three (18-15) after back-to-back block assists by Cockrill
•    Coming out of a James Madison time out, Gooch blasted home a kill and O'Gorman and Blackwell teamed up for a block to stretch the Jaguar lead out to 20-15
•    Veldman recorded three-straight points for JMU to narrow the South lead to three (21-18)
•    Reid tried to complete the comeback for the Dukes as she had three kills and an ace to pull the home team within one (24-23)
•    Gooch however sealed the win for the Jags with a kill – her 10th of the set and 14th of the match 
•    South Alabama was solid offensively in the set, posting a .356 hitting percentage – its best percentage in a set of the match – as it had 20 kills on 45 attacks and committed just four attack errors 
•    Gooch had her 10 kills in the set on 15 attacks and committed just one error for a .600 hitting percentage
•    Loberg had 16 assists for the Jags in the set

Set 4 – South Alabama 26, James Madison 24
•    James Madison led by as much as two throughout the first part of the fourth set
•    Trailing 13-11, South Alabama pushed across four straight points to take its first lead since early on in the set
•    JMU committed a pair of attack errors and Gooch posted back-to-back kills – the second matching a career high – to give South the 15-13 advantage
•    Six points later, the Dukes tied the set back up at 17-17, and regained the lead the following point
•    The JMU defense sparked the run with a block assists by Cockrill and Sarah Schnell, and after two more Jaguar attack errors, Reid posted another kill to put the Dukes up 19-17
•    Jags cut deficit to one four different times over the next several points and finally tied the set back up at 23-23 after a kill by Gooch, which set a new career high for the sophomore
•    Gooch had the answer for South coming out of another time out with a kill to give the Jags match point
•    Reid tied the set back up with her 30th kill, but Gooch slammed home two-straight kills to clinch the match and the set with the 26-24 win
•    Gooch was outstanding again in the deciding set as she had eight kills on 14 attacks for a .429 hitting percentage

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the sixth in the all-time series and the fourth in Harrisonburg, as South Alabama now holds a 4-2 series advantage
•    Over the course of its 10-match win streak, the Jaguars have won 30 of 38 sets
•    The 10 kills by Cannon in the first set and the 10 kills by Gooch were both new season-best by a South Alabama player in a match, eclipsing the previous mark of nine set by Cannon against Texas State (10/11) in the fourth set
•    Of Gooch's career-high 22 kills, 18 came over the final two sets for South Alabama
•    Cannon now has 12 sets with six or more, including five in the first set, and leads the club with 26 sets of four or more kills
•    Gooch has recorded 15 sets with four or more kills this fall
•    O'Gorman (192) is just eight digs shy of 200 for her career
•    Cannon has double-digit kill tallies in 17 of her 22 matches, including 12 of her last 13
•    Cannon has also had nine or more digs in 13 of her last 15 matches, including seven-straight in double figures
•    Gooch has recorded nine or more kills in 13 of her last 16 matches, including 10 of her last 11, and nine in double figures over the 16-match stretch
•    O'Gorman has recorded eight or more kills in 15 of her last 16 outings
•    Addison Hurst has had 64 digs off the bench over her last eight matches
•    The middle hitter duo of Blackwell and Simons have combined for 199 kills and 118 blocks over the last 15 matches
•    Blackwell has had seven or more kills in seven of her last eight matches and five or more kills in nine of her last 11 
•    Blackwell has hit .333 or better in six of her last eight, including five matches of .467 or higher
•    In her last 10 matches (all starts), Blackwell has committed just 17 attack errors in her 142 offensive attacks
•    Wilson has recorded 13 or more digs in 15-straight entering the series

Up Next
•    South Alabama will continue its four-match road stretch with a two-match SBC series at Arkansas State. The Jaguars will open the series up on Friday at 6 p.m. at the First National Bank Arena and then close out the series with the Red Wolves on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

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