JONESBORO, Ark. | Abryanna Cannon led South Alabama with 16 kills Friday night, but the Jaguars saw their 10-match win streak come to an end as Arkansas State picked up a 3-1 (26-28, 25-20, 25-22, 25-23) win in match one of a Sun Belt Conference series between West Division co-leaders at First National Bank Arena.

South Alabama (14-9, 10-3 SBC) will try to earn a split on Saturday in the series finale with Arkansas State (21-4, 11-2 SBC).

South Alabama's (14-9, 10-3 SBC) Sarah Gooch had eight kills and Dalayla Blackwell added six and hit .667 in the match. Briana Wilson recorded 21 digs – her fifth 20-dig match of the season and her second-straight with 21 – and Lillie Simons had a match-high six total blocks, including four solo and two assists.

Kaitlyn Whitlock led Arkansas State (21-4, 11-2 SBC) with 20 kills and 21 digs in the match. Devyn Lewis (15) and Daedrianna Cail (12) also recorded double-digit kill tallies 

The Red Wolves held an 80-59 dig advantage and placed four players in double figures, led by Whitlock. Sarah Martinez had 15, while Erin Madigan and Mia Maloney each had 12.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "I think it came down to efficiency for us tonight. (Arkansas State) did a tremendous job defensively and there's a reason why they lead the conference in defense. They've been great holding teams down and digging people out. Brian (Gerwig) has done a tremendous job building up their program. You had two great teams getting after each other, and they were the ones who came out on top tonight. We're going to come out ready to go tomorrow."

- On the keys for tomorrow's match: "We have to continue to work to put ourselves in a good position offensively. We need to look for big swings when we have those opportunities. You can't chip and roll your self with Arkansas State because you won't get the ball back. They are going to take big swings at you. They also made some roll shots that made us run around. We're going to watch some film and see what they specifically did. We feel like we have a good bead on some things that we were able to adapt to in the match, but we didn't adapt enough."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 28, Arkansas State 26
•    Arkansas State led 11-10 after Whitlock's fifth kill of the match, but Blackwell tied the opening set back up on the next point with a kill, which ignited a 4-0 run to take a three-point lead at the media time out
•    But as was the case for the set, Arkansas State answered right back with three-straight points of its own and tied things back up after another kill by Whitlock
•    In extra points, South Alabama was able to take the early match lead as it closed out the frame with the final two points
•    Tied at 26-26 – the 21st tie of the set –Gooch recorded a kill to give the Jags the lead and Simons then dropped in an ace – the third of the set for South – to seal the 28-26 win
•    Cannon had five kills to lead the Jags in the opening frame, while Whitlock posted six for ASU

Set 2 – Arkansas State 25, South Alabama 20
•    The second set was a set of runs as Arkansas State opened the frame up by taking five of the first six points
•    South Alabama didn't help itself early on, committing three attack errors and a reception error on a serve
•    Trailing 12-6, the Jaguars were able to push across four unanswered points and cut the deficit to two after a pair of kills by Cannon – who again had five kills in the set – and a kill and an ace by Gooch
•    ASU answered back with a run of its own and stretched its lead back out to six (16-10) after a kill by Haley Glunz
•    The Jaguars kept battling and again pulled within two (16-14) after three Arkansas State attack errors and an Evie Taylor kill
•    Still trailing by two six points later, the Jags rattled off four more points to grab a 20-18 lead after another ASU attack error
•    The Jags committed a service error on the ensuing point, which ignited a 7-0 run for Arkansas State to close the set
•    The Red Wolves forced three South Alabama attack errors, two coming on blocks, and Lewis and Cail ended the run with back-to-back kills to give the home team the 25-20 win

Set 3 – Arkansas State 25, South Alabama 22
•    Holding an 11-10 lead, the Red Wolves pushed across the next three points, the last coming on a kill by Whitlokck, to take a four-point lead
•    After South had trimmed the deficit to two (14-12), Whitlock recorded three more kills to extend the ASU lead
•    Gooch recorded an ace to pull South within three (19-16) with an ace, but Grace Wiley answered with a kill and a solo block for Arkansas State
•    The Jaguars fought back with four-straight points after a kill by Blackwell, a solo block and kill by Simons and an attack error by the Red Wolves made it 21-20
•    South Alabama had a chance to tie the set up late, but after a serving error – its ninth of the match – Arkansas State held set point and on the ensuing point
•    Madigan and Cail then teamed up to record a block and give the Red Wolves the 25-22 third-set win

Set 4 – Arkansas State 25, South Alabama 23
•    Tied at 11-11 – one of 14 in the fourth set – South Alabama was the first team to gain any real momentum
•    After an attack error by Arkansas State, Gooch recorded back-to-back kills to give the Jags a three-point advantage (14-11)
•    Trailing 17-14 later in the set, ASU four of next five points to tie the set up at 18-18 after a kill by Cail
•    South Alabama retook the lead on the ensuing point and held the lead until late
•    Trailing 23-21, the Red Wolves closed out the match with the final four points to clinch the match
•    Lewis recorded a kill and Whitlock then posted back-to-back-to-back kills to seal the 25-23 win for Arkansas State
•    Whitlock had seven kills in the set, while Lewis had five

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 44th in the all-time series and the 21st in Jonesboro
•    South Alabama had its 10-match win streak snapped 
•    The loss also snapped a six-match win streak in the series by the Jags
•    The win was the 12-straight win at home for Arkansas State
•    Cannon (549) is one kill shy of reaching 550 at South Alabama, and (894) is six kills shy of reaching 900 for her collegiate career
•    Cannon has double-digit kill tallies in 18 of her 23 matches, including 13 of her last 14
•    Over her last 16 matches, Simons has recorded 119 kills and 82 total blocks
•    The middle hitter duo of Blackwell and Simons have combined for 209 kills and 125 blocks over their last 16 matches
•    Blackwell has hit .333 or better in seven of her last nine, including six matches of .467 or higher, and three straight over .500
•    In her last 12 matches (all starts), Blackwell has recorded 83 kills and committed just 17 attack errors in her 161 offensive attacks 
•    With her nine digs, Addison Hurst has had 73 digs (2.07 dps) off the bench over her last nine matches
•    Wilson has recorded 13 or more digs in 16-straight entering the series

Up Next
•    South Alabama will close out the series with Arkansas State on Saturday with first serve versus the Red Wolves set for 1 p.m.

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