MOBILE, Ala. | Abryanna Cannon finished with a match high 16 kills and Sarah Gooch chipped in with 10 to spark the Jaguar offense and lead South Alabama to a straight-set victory 925-22, 25-19, 25-19) over McNeese State on the final day of the Jaguar Invitational presented by Hilton at Providence Park held at Jag Gym Sunday afternoon. 

Cannon led South (1-1) offensively and also finished the match with a .375 hitting percentage, five digs and a solo block. Junior setter Anna Loberg was solid with 33 assists and helped direct the Jags to 44 kills and a .257 hitting percentage in the win. She also had a pair of aces, six digs and three kills.

Defensively, Briana Wilson paced the club with 10 digs, while Addison Hurst added eight digs of her own and a match-high three aces.

McNeese State (0-2) was paced by Kayla Wilson's 10 kills.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On his thoughts on the match: "I thought we played great defense. Abryanna Cannon had a tremendous match, as well as Sarah Gooch. A lot of players contributed to our success today. I loved our serve-receive. I thought Erika Spankus, as a youngster and redshirt-freshman, killed it in that role. I'm really proud of my group and how they bounced back. We threw some stuff at them this morning that was new for today's match that we thought we would need against McNeese, and I thought they executed pretty well."

- On the difference between Friday night's and today's match: "Kuddos to Texas A&M, they came in and played us hard. They're a SEC who was ranked in the Top 35 last year, so we knew it was going to be tough. I never felt like we ever really got in a rhythm. I felt like today that we were more aggressive and worked harder, especially in serve-receive, to get us in a rhythm of attack. Even when we were losing points, we passed it, we set it and we attacked it over and over. When you are able to do that, you don't stop. You keep it going. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but I was proud of my group generating that throughout the match."

Graduate Student OH Abryanna Cannon
- On what went well for her and the offense today: "I felt that as a team, we passed the ball really well. Anna (Loberg) was throwing the rock really well, which put us in really good situations; a lot of one-on-ones, which gave us a lot more court to work with. We had a lot better connection than we did in our match on Friday."

- On providing the spark early on and the team's mindset coming out: "We made some rotation adjustments, which put me on the outside a little bit more. I'm a little more comfortable over there, but I also felt that we passed the ball lights out. My team did a really good job of getting Anna in the pocket. She was able to put me in some really good situations even when she wasn't in the pocket."

Sophomore OH Sarah Gooch
- On what went well for her and the team today: "Coming off our match Friday, we just had a lot of revenge in us. We all wanted to come out and have a good start to the match. We passed a lot better, protected our servers and got a lot more swings off. We were able to take some rips and put our hitters up at the net, and that gave us a lot of good opportunities.

- On her performance: "Anna (Loberg) was giving me some great balls. We had some really good one-on-one opportunities, and I saw some gaps, so I just swung at them."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – SOUTH ALABAMA 25, MCNEESE STATE 22
•    Spankus got things started with an ace and Cannon with three kills to help South jump out by six early on
•    Hurst capped off the early run and put the Jags up 8-2 with her first ace of the afternoon.
•    McNeese State hung around and eventually narrowed the deficit to as little as two on a couple of different occasions with the last coming at 24-22 after a kill by Wilson
•    Following a timeout, the Jags took the opening set (25-22) on a McNeese serving error
•    Cannon led all players with six kills and a .545 hitting percentage in the opening frame
•    As a team, South had 15 kills on 32 attacks and committed just four errors for a .344 hitting percentage

Set 2 – SOUTH ALABAMA 25, MCNEESE STATE 19
•    South jumped out early (5-2) after a kill by Dalayla Blackwell, but the Cowgirls battled back and grabbed its first lead of the match (8-5)
•    The Cowgirls reeled off six unanswered points – highlighted by a pair of kills from both McKenzie Moore and Wilson to take the three-point advantage
•    The Jaguars later tied the set back up at 9-9 and retook the lead (11-10) a few points later after a Cowgirl attack error
•    South later grabbed the lead for good as it broke a 13-13 tie with four-straight points
•    Cannon began the pivotal run with a kill and later added a solo block, and Hurst capped off the scoring with another ace
•    McNeese was only able to get as close as two the rest of the way before the Jags took the set, 25-19

Set 3 – SOUTH ALABAMA 25, MCNEESE STATE 19
•    South Alabama led 12-6 in the third set after a kill by Loberg
•    McNeese then pushed across four unanswered points to close the Jaguar lead to two (12-10) after two more kills by Wilson
•    The visitors tied set up at 14-14 after an ace by Corynne Hausler, but the momentum didn't last long as Cannon slammed home a kill on the very next point to put South back out in front
•    Holding a 17-16 advantage, the Jaguars garnered some breathing room after a block by Loberg and a kill by Gooch
•    South later recorded the final three points of the match with kills by Cannon and Loberg and an ace from Hurst clinched the set (25-19)
•    Cannon again led the way with six kills in the final frame, and Gooch chipped in with four

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 24th meeting in the all-time series as South Alabama now leads 15-9
•    The start was the first of Blackwell's collegiate career
•    With her 10 digs, Wilson eclipsed the 200-dig mark for her career as she now has 207
•    Hurst (104) also surpassed the 100-dig mark for her career with her eight-dig effort
•    Lillie Simons (196) is just four kills shy of 200 for her career
•    The 10 kills were a new career-best for Gooch
•    The 16 kills marked Cannon's 29th time in double figures in the category and her 13th time as a Jag
•    The 16 kills by Cannon are her second-most in a Jaguar uniform and tied for the fifth-most in her career
•    Cannon's five digs also marked the 23rd time in her collegiate career that she has recorded five or more in a match
•    The three service aces by Hurst were also a new career best for the sophomore
•    Loberg set new career highs in assists (33), kills (3) and total blocks (2)

Up Next
•    South Alabama will head out on the road for the first time as it will compete at the Rice Invitational II. The Jags are scheduled to face the host Owls on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Tudor Fieldhouse and then take on UNLV on Friday at 1 p.m.

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