SAN MARCOS, Texas | After being on the receiving end the night before, South Alabama rallied back from a 2-1 match deficit to take Friday night's series finale with a 3-2 (18-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 15-9) at Strahan Arena.

With the win, South Alabama improves to 10-7 overall and maintains its lead in the Sun Belt's West Division as it sits 5-1 in league play.

The Jaguars used a balanced offensive attack as five players finished with eight or more kills. Cambria Gaier (.393) and Sarah Gooch led the attack, finishing with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Dalayla Blackwell (.500) and Maradith O'Gorman (.304) each finished with nine kills apiece, and Alexa Strandberg chipped in with eight, while also posting a .368 hitting percentage.  

In addition to her 13 kills, Gooch also finished the match with seven digs and a career-high nine total blocks, including five solo blocks. Blackwell also had eight total blocks – one solo and seven assists – while O'Gorman recorded six block assists and Strandberg finished with four block assists of her own.

Against one of the top blocking teams in the Sun Belt, South Alabama held a 20.0 – 11.0 block advantage. The 20.0 blocks were a season high and the most in a match since the 2022 season. 

Anna Loberg directed the South Alabama offense to a season-best .313 hitting percentage (60 kills, 14 errors, 147 attacks), finishing with 37 assists. The senior setter nearly recorded a double-double as she had nine digs. 

Texas State (8-9, 2-3 SBC) was led offensively by Samantha Wunsch's 17 kills, 15 digs and seven block assists. Three other Bobcats – Caelyn Emmerling (14), Nina Moorer (12) and Jade Defraeye (10) – also finished in double figures offensively. Bailey Hanner also had eight kills and eight block assists in the loss.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "I'm proud of our team. I thought they showed a lot of tenacity tonight. Texas State came out strong and as the match progressed, they kept coming at us. It was a slug fest tonight. We had a lot of contributors and I'm really proud of all the girls. This is something that you are going to have to deal with in the Sun Belt Conference. It was a great win for the team, and on to the next one next weekend."

Junior outside hitter Sarah Gooch
- On the mindset of the team heading into the fourth set, trailing 2-1 in the match: "We talk about it a lot, about how you're going to respond. Are you going to fight back, or are you going to back down? None of us wanted to back down; we wanted this match really bad tonight."

- On the intensity of both matches in the series this weekend: "We knew it would be a battle. Both teams are really good. Texas State is a really good team, but we know what we have on our side, and we wanted tonight's match really bad. We trusted in each other and knew we were going to pull it out."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – Texas State 25, South Alabama 18
•    KEY MOMENT: Texas State challenged an out call after an attack error would have cut the Bobcat lead to three, but the call was overturned, extending the home team's lead out to five instead
•    South Alabama cut the Bobcat lead to 11-10 after a kill by Gooch, but Texas State's Hanner ignited a 5-0 Bobcat run 
•    Samantha Wunsch then followed with an ace and Hanner added two more block assists
•    South Alabama looked as if it had cut the Bobcat lead to three (20-17) after an attack was originally ruled out, but Texas State challenged the call and after review, it was ruled that the ball had been touched giving Wunsch a kill and the Bobcats a 21-16 advantage
•    Texas State went on to take the set, 25-18 after a kill by Hanner
•    Wunsch (5), Moorer (4) and Hanner (3) combined for 12 of the Bobcats' 16 kills in the first set

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, Texas State 20
•    KEY MOMENT: Gooch posted back-to-back solo blocks during a three-point spurt, breaking a 12-12 tie and giving South Alabama the lead for good
•    South led by three early at 6-3 after kills by Loberg, O'Gorman and Gooch
•    With the Jags later leading (9-6) after a kill by Gaier, Texas State rallied back with five unanswered points two of which coming on block assists by Wunsch and Hanner
•    Tied 12-12, South Alabama retook the lead with three-straight points, the last two coming on consecutive solo blocks by Gooch to give the Jaguars a 15-12 advantage at the media time out
•    The Jags led 20-16 after a kill by Gaier, but over the next several points, Texas State was able to cut the South lead to two twice
•    Each time though, Blackwell had the answer as she slammed home a kill coming out of a time out and then teamed up with Gooch on a block
•    Strandberg later sealed the 25-20 win with a kill 
•    After hitting just over .100 in the opening frame, South Alabama bounced back with 16 kills and a .406 hitting percentage in the second set

Set 3 – Texas State 25, South Alabama 22
•    KEY MOMENT: The Jaguars held a 22-21 lead, but Wunsch posted a kill to ignite a 4-0 run to close out the set
•    Texas State led 10-6 after a kill by Defraeye, but South Alabama began to claw its way back as Gaier slammed home back-to-back kills to spur on the Jags 
•    South Alabama led 22-21 after block assists by Strandberg and O'Gorman, but on the ensuing point, Wunsch recorded a kill to begin a run of four unanswered points for the Bobcats to close the set
•    Maggie Walsh followed the Wunsch kill with back-to-back put aways, and Wunsch then dropped in her second ace of the match to seal the four-point win for Texas State
•    South again was outstanding offensively recording 16 kills in the frame and didn't commit an attack error in any of its 39 attempts for .410 hitting percentage 
•    Gooch, Gaier and O'Gorman each had four kills in the set for South

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Texas State 23
•    KEY MOMENT: After Texas State pulled within one, Gooch answered back with a kill to clinch the set
•    Holding a one-point advantage (11-10) South gained some breathing room with four-straight points
•    Gooch capped off the 4-0 run for the Jaguars with a solo block to put the visitors up, 15-10 at the media time out
•    South Alabama later led by six (18-12) after a kill by Loberg, but Texas State responded with five-straight points to cut Jaguar lead to 18-17
•    South led 21-18 after kill by Gaier, but Texas State again battled back to tie the set back up 22-22 after an ace by Wunsch
•    The Jaguars later held set point (24-22) after a block assists from O'Gorman and Strandberg
•    Texas State was able to fight off one set point, but Gooch slammed home her fifth kill of the set and 12th of the night to seal the win

Set 5 – South Alabama 15, Texas State 9
•    KEY MOMENT: Trailing by two nearing the midway of the fifth and final set, Gaier slammed home back-to-back kills to tie the set up and give South the momentum
•    South led 3-1 early after a kill and a solo block – her fifth of the night and ninth total – by Gooch
•    Texas State led 7-5, but Gaier recorded two-straight kills to begin a 6-0 run by the Jaguars
•    After an ace by Emily Ready, Gaier bookended the run with another kill to put South up 11-7
•    Following a serving error to end the run of unanswered points, Gaier recorded another kill and then teamed back up with Blackwell for another block, and Loberg dropped in an ace to cap off a 9-1 run for South and give the Jags set point (14-8)
•    Two points later, it was Blackwell who clinched the match victory with a kill
•    South Alabama posted its best offensive hitting percentage in the final frame, committing just one error and registering a .538 percentage 
•    Texas State was held to four kills and a .000 percentage

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the final regular-season meeting between the two foes as Texas State is exiting the Sun Belt after this season
•    The win marked just the second in the series on the Bobcat's home floor and the first since the 2017 season
•    The win also snapped a six-match win streak by the home team in the series, and was the first time since 2022 that the visitor has won on the road
•    Friday marked the first 20.0 block match since, recording 21.0, vs. Texas State (10/22/22)
•    The 20.0 blocks were also tied for fourth-most in a match, matching at Southern Mississippi (9/29/15) and at North Texas (10/28/01)
•    The 20.0 blocks were also the second most against a Sun Belt Conference foe
•    The seven solo blocks were tied for eighth-most in a match
•    Gooch now has 29 sets with four or more kills, while Gaier has 28 sets this fall
•    Gooch also now has 51 sets with four or more kills in her Jaguar career, including 17 of six or more
•    Gooch set new career highs in both solo blocks (5) and total blocks (9)
•    With her 13 kills, Gooch has reached double figures in kills 13 times – 27 for her career – this season
•    Gaier has reached double figures in kills in 11 of her last 13 matches – 12 total this fall
•    Blackwell has had five or more kills in 11 of her 12 matches this fall, and the redshirt-sophomore has posted eight or more points in nine of her 12 matches
•    O'Gorman has had seven or more digs in 13 of her 17 matches this fall, and has had multi-block matches in 10 of her last 13
•    Strandberg has had three or more blocks in nine of her last 13 and 12 of her 17 matches this season

Up Next
•    South Alabama will return home to host Southern Miss for a two-match series. First serve of the series opener versus the Golden Eagles is set for 6 p.m. on Friday at Jag Gym.

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