TROY, Ala. | Abryanna Cannon recorded 13 kills and three blocks, but it wasn't enough as South Alabama volleyball dropped its Sun Belt Conference opener to Troy Thursday night, 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-19) at Trojan Arena.

Briana Wilson led the Jaguars (4-7, 0-1 SBC) in digs with 17.

Tori Hester recorded a match-high 15 kills for the Trojans (6-5, 1-0 SBC) to go along with 14 digs, two aces, two blocks and a .375 hitting percentage. 

One key stat was in the serve-receive as Troy had eight aces compared to just two by South Alabama. Another was in the unforced errors as the Jaguars committed 19 attack errors, 11 serving errors and eight reception errors

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the unforced errors and not being able to get in rhythm: "In the three parts of the match – serving, reception and attacking – we were extremely high error. Kudos to Troy. If you can be aggressive while still being low error, you're going to be a force. I think that's part of progression.

"I feel that we got better as the match went, but not good enough. (Troy) came with some big energy at their house and really took it to us, and they were successful at it."

- On what the team needs to do in Friday's match: "We can't make that many errors and beat anybody. We're going to have to be way more efficient. Volleyball is an efficiency game. It's very obvious that that's the part of the game where we are allowing our opponents to just fly away from us. We have to do a better job of being efficient and low error."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – Troy 25, South Alabama 18
•    Troy opened up the match by taking five of the first six points, led by a pair of kills from Amiah Butler
•    Lillie Simons cut the deficit to two (9-7) with a kill, but the Trojans answered back with six of the next seven points to extend the lead back out to 15-8
•    Janelle Stuempfig led the run for Troy with a kill, a block and an ace, the latter giving the home team the seven-point advantage
•    Troy stretched its lead out to nine (23-14) after a Jaguar serving error, but South tried to mount a late rally after kills by Cannon and Maradith O'Gorman, and an ace by Sarah Gooch, but the Trojans held on to take the opening set (25-18)
•    The Trojans hit .407 in the first set as they had 13 kills on 27 attacks and just two errors, while South was held to .147
•    Troy aided to the Jaguars' struggles on offense as it had eight block assists in the set

Set 2 – Troy 25, South Alabama 19
•    South Alabama pulled within one (6-5) early on in the second set after a kill by Anna Loberg, but Troy pushed across six unanswered points, two coming off a pair of aces by Jaci Mesa during the run
•    Cannon and O'Gorman ended the run with a couple of kills and sparked the club
•    Over the next several points, by Jaguars chipped away at the deficit and after a block assists by Evie Taylor and Cannon, South trailed 15-12
•    Coming out of a time out, Troy grabbed the next three points to regain momentum and eventually went on to pick up the 25-19 win after a kill by Hester
•    Hester led the Trojan offense in the second set with six kills, the last giving her 1,400 for her career at Troy

Set 3 – Troy 25, South Alabama 19
•    Trailing early on in the third set, South Alabama battled back to tie the frame back up at 8-8 after a Trojan error and an ace by Loberg
•    Cannon recorded her 12th kill to tie the set back up (12-12), but Troy grabbed seven of the next nine points retake the lead
•    Caroline Darracott dropped in an ace for the Trojans to extend the lead to 19-14
•    South later pulled within two (20-18) after a pair of kills by O'Gorman and a kill by Simons
•    That was as close as the Jags got the rest of the way as Stuempfig dropped in another ace and Hester recorded a kill (23-18)
•    Troy closed out the match by pushing across five of the last six points with Hester ended the set with a kill and an ace
•    Cannon tried to lead South Alabama back as she had six kills and hit .312 in the final set, but Hester matched her with five kills of her own in the frame and both of her aces

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 86th in the all-time series 
•    Troy has now won seven of the last 11 series meetings, and five of the last six at Trojan Arena
•    The all-time series between the two in-state programs dates back to the 1974 season
•    With her four kills in the first set and six kills in the third, Cannon increased her team-best mark to 16 sets with four or more kills in a set this season
•    The six kills also marked the sixth time the graduate senior has done so in a set this fall
•    Cannon (385) is 15 kills shy of reaching 400 at South Alabama
•    The 13 kills also marked the seventh time this season, the 19th time at South Alabama and the 35th time in her collegiate career that she has finished with 10 or more kills in a match
•    Cannon has also led the Jags in the category in eight of the club's 11 matches
•    Anna Loberg (292) is eight digs shy of 300 for her career
•    South Alabama committed 19 attack errors, 11 serving errors and eight reception errors

Up Next
•    South Alabama will look to even the series when it takes on Troy on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Trojan Arena.

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