BIRMINGHAM, Ala. | Lillie Simons and Evie Taylor both set career highs in kills as South Alabama rallied back from an early deficit and won its third straight match with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-13, 27-25, 25-19) victory over Samford Friday at the Alabama Showdown hosted by UAB at Bartow Arena.

Simons led all players with a career-best 16 kills, doubling her previous high in the category, while also adding four blocks and five digs for South Alabama (4-5). The middle hitter posted a .532 hitting percentage as she had her 16 kills on 26 attacks and committed just two errors.

Maradith O'Gorman also finished in double figures with 11 kills and a .320 hitting percentage, while Taylor came off the Jaguar bench to nine kills. Abryanna Cannon and Sarah Gooch ended the match with eight and seven kills, respectively.

Like Simons, Cannon – two solo blocks and two block assists – and Taylor – one solo block and three block assists – both finished with four total blocks. 

Junior setter Anna Loberg recorded a career-best 42 assists and led the Jaguars to a season-best .285 hitting percentage. 

Briana Wilson led the club with 19 digs, while Cannon set a new career high with 15 digs, and Addison Hurst just missed matching a new career best as she had 11 in the win.

Samford (5-4) was paced offensively by the duo of Grace Lynn Butler (12 kills) and Kaliegh Meritt (10 kills)

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On his thoughts on South's play in the match: "I thought we were aggressive. We started off the match pretty strong, and got into a little bit of a lull. I was glad that we recognized that and started picking it up. Coming in, I felt Samford was really good at serving, so I liked that our serve-receive kept taking on the challenge and put Anna (Loberg) in some great positions. Our middles had a great match, and I thought that was big for us because we were able to gash the center. Yesterday, I said we were a work in progress, but I like the progress that we're making."

- On the play of the middle hitters: "Evie (Taylor) has been great at practice and Dalayla (Blackwell) has been doing great, so we have competition in there. Those two are earners and I feel comfortable with either one of them out there for us. Evie has just been tearing it up, so we wanted to make sure we got her into the match.

"That was Lillie's best match and it was pretty awesome watching her demand the ball and her ability to put it away. In our gym (during practice), Lillie gives us fits. Playing against a lefty-middle is just tough. Watching some of the slots she was able to swing it in tonight was pretty impressive. Thinking back how tough it was for her when she first got here, it's just amazing to see how she's progressed. I'm very proud of both of them."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – Samford 25, South Alabama 19
•    South Alabama held the early momentum, jumping out to a 7-1 lead as four players recorded a kill, led by two from Simons
•    Samford answered back by registering five of next six points to cut the Jaguar lead to two (8-6)
•    The Bulldogs hung around and eventually tied the set up (12-12) after a kill and an ace by Ally Cordes, and three points later took their first lead of the match after a Jaguar attack error
•    Katie Morgan then posted consecutive aces and Lexi Thatcher had a kill to give Samford a 17-13 advantage and force a South Alabama time out
•    Samford led by as much as seven with the last coming at 24-17 after a kill by Golden Greer
•    South Alabama fought off three set points, but Cordes gave the Bulldogs the 25-19 win with her third kill
•    Cannon and Simons each had four kills for the Jaguars in the first set
•    Samford recorded four aces in the opening set, while South didn't record one

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, Samford 13
•    Tied 3-3 early on in set two, Taylor sparked the Jags as she recorded four of South's next five points – all kills – and gave the Jags a four-point lead (8-4) 
•    Sparked by Taylor, South Alabama pushed across eight of the next nine points and extended its lead to 11-4 after a kill by Sarah Gooch
•    Leading by six (14-8), South took control of the set and stretched its lead out to double digits (20-8) with six unanswered points, capped off by blocks from O'Gorman and Taylor
•    The defense along the net sealed the 12-point win (25-13) as Loberg and Simons teamed up for another block
•    South Alabama posted a .414 hitting percentage in the second set, recording 15 kills on 29 attacks and just three errors
•    The Jags had 16 kills in the set and held the Bulldogs to just seven

Set 3 – South Alabama 27, Samford 25
•    Samford lead by three (7-4), but the Jaguars came roaring back with the next four points to take an 8-7 lead after a kill by Taylor and a Bulldog attack error
•    Tied 10-10, South rattled off six of the next eight points, and took a 16-12 lead after an ace by Gooch
•    South Alabama led 19-15 after a solo block by Cannon, but Samford answered back with six unanswered points and reclaimed the lead (21-19) after a kill by Kate Wonus and block assists by Butler and Wonus
•    The Bulldogs held set point (24-22), but the Jags fought off two set-point opportunities and pushed it to extra points after a bad set and a kill by Cannon
•    Simons then slammed home a kill of her own to give the Jags a 25-24 lead and put them at set point
•    Samford fought of the Jag opportunity, but Cannon blasted home her eighth kill of the match and the graduate senior then teamed up with Taylor for the block to seal the 27-25 third-set win
•    The Jags used a balanced offensive attack in the third set as Gooch, Cannon, O'Gorman and Simons all had three kills, while Taylor was credited with two

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Samford 19
•    Riding the momentum from the third-set comeback win, the Jaguars got off to a quick start in the fourth frame and led, 8-3
•    Samford trimmed the deficit to four (10-6) after a Jaguar attack error, but South grabbed the momentum for good as it reeled off 
•    Loberg and Simons both had aces during the run and O'Gorman slammed home her 11th kill to put South up by double figures (18-8)
•    As a team, South Alabama hit .407 in the set and Simons had six kills and did not commit an error in the frame

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 25th in the all-time series, and with the win, South now holds a 13-12 advantage 
•    South Alabama has now won six of the last eighth series meetings
•    The 25 meetings with the Bulldogs make up over half of the 44 total versus current Southern Conference members
•    The 16 kills doubled Simons previous career high in the category
•    Simons (199) is just one block shy of 200 total for her career
•    With her eight kills, Cannon (687) is 13 kills shy of reaching 700 for her collegiate career
•    The 15 digs bested Cannon's previous high in the category (13 vs. both Iowa (2/27/21) and Rutgers (1/22/21)
•    Taylor set new career highs in kills (11) and total blocks (4)
•    Loberg's 42 assists were also a career high in the category

Up Next
•    South Alabama will close out play at the Alabama Showdown on Saturday versus Auburn with first serve set for 2 p.m.

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