ATLANTA | South Alabama volleyball used a balanced offensive attack Friday afternoon to sweep Alabama State, 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-16) at the Georgia Tech Classic hosted by the Yellow Jackets at O'Keefe Gymnasium.

Sarah Gooch led the way offensively as the sophomore matched a career high with 10 kills and posted a match-best .529 hitting percentage. Gooch had her 10 kills on 17 attacks and committed just one error in the match. 

Along with Gooch, three other players had six or more kills in the win – Maradith O'Gorman (8), Abryanna Cannon (7) and Dalayla Blackwell (6).

Two other key areas for the Jaguars in the win were at the net defensively and in the serve-receive game. Blackwell finished the afternoon with six total blocks – two solo and four assists – and as a team, South Alabama held a 10.0-5.0 advantage. The Jags also carded a season-high 10 aces, led by Anna Loberg (4) and Erika Spankus (3). 

With the win, South Alabama improves to 2-5 on the year and snaps a four-match skid. Alabama State falls to 3-6 with the loss.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On his thoughts on the match: "We had a lot of positives in our match last night. The players were really bummed out after the loss, and they were motivated and really wanted to win the match last night. As a coach, you get fired up about seeing that. We talked about working to be more efficient and not hemorrhaging so many errors, and I was proud of their intensity today. Everyone played a part in our win today, and I was pleased to see that." 

- On the balanced offensive attack: "Being balanced is something we have to make sure that we are about. We can't just be high ball to the outside over and over. We definitely have to get everyone involved. We're a very physical team, so being balanced only benefits us. 

"Big kudos to Dalayla (Blackwell); she had a pretty good weekend overall. It's exciting to watch some of our young players grow like that. We have a ways to go, we have some grind left and we have some learning to do, but we've been tested and have kept fighting, and it's been great."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Alabama State 13
•    South Alabama jumped out to an early 8-2 lead after a pair of kills by O'Gorman and a pair of aces by Spankus
•    Lillie Simons also had a kill and an ace during the run
•    The Jaguars later took their first double-digit lead (17-7) after four-straight Hornet errors
•    Coming out of an ASU time out, Loberg continued the run with an ace
•    South Alabama used a balanced attack in the opening frame as five players recorded multiple kills, led by three from O'Gorman
•    The Jags also hit .435 in the first set with 11 kills on 23 attacks and just one error
•    South won 92 percent of its side-out opportunities in the opening frame

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, Alabama State 22
•    Tied 6-6 in set two, South Alabama pushed across four unanswered points to take a 10-6 lead after three Alabama State attack errors and an ace by Cannon
•    The Hornets hung around and later claimed their first lead of the match (14-13) after Zanobia Willis recorded back-to-back kills and a pair of Jaguar attack errors, forcing a South Alabama time out
•    Tied at 16, Cannon put South back out in front with back-to-back kills, and began a 4-1 spurt 
•    Blackwell and Gooch capped off the scoring as the duo teamed up for a block to give South a 20-17 advantage
•    After a time out, Alabama State's Taylor Williams and Laila Woolridge tied the set back up (20-20) with a kill and a block each
•    The Hornets held a 23-22 lead after back-to-back kills by Williams, but South was able to push across the final three points after kills from Gooch and Cannon and an attack error

Set 3 – South Alabama 25, Alabama State 16
•    South Alabama's serving game helped it jump out to a 7-1 lead
•    Loberg began the set with three-straight aces and Spankus added another, while O'Gorman gave South the six-point lead after a block and a kill
•    The Jags lead 18-10 after a kill by Cannon, and Alabama State tried to rally back rattling off three-straight points, but coming out of a time out, South quickly regained momentum as Blackwell and Cannon slammed home a kill each to end the run
•    Gooch later tied her career high in kills and put the Jaguars one point away from taking the match (24-15) and two points later, South picked up the 25-16 win after an ASU serving error

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 32nd between the two programs in the all-time series
•    South now leads the all-time series 28-3, and extended its winning streak in the series to 21 matches
•    The Jags are also 8-0 against the Hornets on a neutral floor and 18-1 in three-set series matches
•    Of South Alabama's seven matches this season, six have been decided in three sets
•    Blackwell set a new career high in blocks (6), solo blocks (2) and block assists (4)
•    The 10 total blocks by the Jags were a season high
•    Gooch matched her previous career high in kills set against McNeese State (9/1/24) earlier this fall
•    With her four aces, Loberg eclipsed her previous best in the category, which had been three, set on three occasions with the most recent coming against Louisiana last fall
•    The 10 total blocks by the Jags were also a season high
•    The 10 service aces were a season high for the Jags and marked the first time South has had 10 or more aces in a match since 10, vs. Auburn (9/14/23)

Up Next
•    South Alabama will head to Birmingham, Ala., next week to compete in its final non-conference tournament of the fall at the Alabama Showdown. The Jaguars will open up versus tournament host UAB on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then face Samford on Friday (4 p.m.) and Auburn on Saturday (2 p.m.).

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