LAFAYETTE, La. | Playing in her hometown, South Alabama's Dalayla Blackwell led the Jaguars with 14 kills and nine total blocks Saturday afternoon as the Jaguars earned a series split with Louisiana, defeating the Ragin' Cajuns 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 25-20) at Earl K. Long Gym.

Blackwell also recorded a .545 hitting percentage as she had 14 kills on 22 attacks and committed just two attack errors for South Alabama (13-8, 8-2 SBC). 

Cambria Gaier (13) and Maradith O'Gorman (12) also finished in double figures, while Eva Dittmar – making her first career start posted nine kills of her own. Gaier and O'Gorman also had three service aces as the Jaguars held a 9-4 advantage in the category. 

Anna Loberg was solid directing the South Alabama offense as she had 43 assists and led the Jaguars to 55 kills and a .241 hitting percentage. Loberg also chipped in with seven digs, two total blocks and a pair of aces.

Brianna Wilson recorded her second-straight 20-dig match, finishing with 21. Wilson now has five 20-dig matches in her last seven. 

Louisiana (12-8, 4-6 SBC) had two players record double figures as Cailin Demps and Grace Sweeney each had 10 kills. Sweeney also posted 14 digs for a double-double in the losing effort.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On getting the series finale: "I'm really proud of the girls today. They played hard and remained focused. We made some revisions in our game plan today, which I feel were really impactful. I'm proud of how we came out and executed. They showed a lot of grit and leadership. I'm really pleased with where we're at as a team right now."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Louisiana 23
•    KEY MOMENT: After Louisiana trimmed the Jaguar lead to one (23-22), Blackwell slammed home a kill and O'Gorman followed with a kill of her own to seal the set win 
•    Trailing 6-5, South Alabama was the first to gain some breathing room in the opening set rattling off five unanswered points
•    Gaier ignited the run with a kill, Alexa Strandberg added an ace and Blackwell also posted a kill for the Jags during the run
•    South led by as much as seven (15-8) after a solo block by Strandberg, and the trio combined to record 12 of South's first 15 points in the opening set
•    The Jaguars later led 16-10 after blocks by Strandberg and O'Gorman, but UL pushed across four-straight points to trim the Jaguar lead to two
•    UL pulled within one on three different occasions down the stretch, each time after kills by Demps – who had six in the opening frame
•    Holding a one-point advantage (23-22), Blackwell slammed home a kill to put the Jaguars at set point and O'Gorman then finished things off with a kill of her own

Set 2 – Louisiana 25, South Alabama 22
•    KEY MOMENT: The Jaguars tied the set up late (22-22), but Louisiana was able to push the final three points of the set to even the match back up
•    Lindsey Henry and Demps combined to record all four of UL's first points during a 4-1 run to open the second set with a pair of block assists and a kill each
•    UL led 11-7 after kill by Henry, but led by O'Gorman and Blackwell, South Alabama pushed across four unanswered points
•    After a kill by Dittmar, O'Gorman slammed home a kill and the senior and Blackwell then recorded back-to-back blocks to tie the set up (11-11)
•    Still tied two points later, Louisiana rattled off four-straight points of its own to retake the lead (16-12) after an ace by Kennedy Gustafson
•    Louisiana led by five (19-14) but the Jaguars clawed their way back and eventually tied the set back up at 22-22 after an ace by Gaier and a solo block and a kill by Blackwell
•    South committed a serving error on the ensuing point and Henry and Marlee Ervin then combined for a block to give UL set point
•    Ervin then gave Louisiana the 25-22 win on the next point with a kill

Set 3 – South Alabama 25, Louisiana 19
•    KEY MOMENT: Holding a three-point lead, South Alabama used a 5-0 run late in the set to take control
•    Tied (3-3) early on in the third set, the Jaguars used a 6-1 to gain some breathing room
•    Dittmar began the run with back-to-back kills, and Standberg then gave South a five-point advantage (9-4) with a kill to cap off the scoring
•    UL answered with a 5-0 run and tied the set back up at 9-9 after a kill by Chelsea Gilmore
•    Standberg slammed home a kill and O'Gorman dropped in an ace to begin 6-2 run over the next eight points, and Loberg gave South a 15-11 lead at the media time out with a solo block
•    UL pulled within three (18-15), but coming out of a time out Strandberg and O'Gorman recorded the first four points of a 5-0 Jaguar run, and Gaier slammed home a kill to give South an eight-point lead (23-15)
•    Blackwell later clinched the 25-19, third-set victory with her 10th kill of the match
•    South Alabama posted its best offensive numbers of the match in the third set with 16 kills and a .379 hitting percentage 

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Louisiana 20
•    KEY MOMENT: After trailing by as much as eight, UL narrowed the Jaguar lead to three late, but Blackwell recorded back-to-back kills to seal the match victory
•    South Alabama led by one (5-4) early on in the fourth set, but used a 5-0 run to stretch its lead out to 10-4
•    O'Gorman (a kill and an ace) and Gaier (two kills) led the scoring with four of the Jags' points 
•    The Jags led by seven (13-6) after block assists by Blackwell and Loberg, and then took their largest lead of the set at 16-8 after kills by Gaier and O'Gorman
•    Two points later, South led 17-9 after kill by Blackwell – her 12th of the match – but Louisiana rattled off a 7-1 run 
•    UL began the run with four-straight points and narrowed the Jaguar lead to 17-13 after back-to-back kills by Ervin
•    The Ragin' Cajuns then cut the deficit to 18-16 after three kills by Ervin and a pair of Jaguar attack errors
•    South extended its lead back out to five (21-16) after a UL service error, a Gaier kill and a Cajun attack error
•    Louisiana again fought back and trimmed the deficit to 23-20 after kills by Sweeney and Gaston, but Blackwell slammed home a pair of kills to clinch the match and the five-point victory for the Jaguars 
•    The Jaguar defense forced seven attack errors and held UL to its lowest offensive output of the match with eight kills and an .030 attack percentage
•    Gaier led South offensively with six kills in the final frame

Post-Match Notes
•    With the series split, South Alabama maintains its lead in the SBC West Division 
•    Gaier recorded nine of her 13 kills over the final two sets
•    Gaier now leads the club with 35 sets of four or more kills and has done so in 21 of her 34 Sun Belt Conference sets played
•    Gaier has recorded 12 or more kills in 15 of her last 19, and recorded double figures 16 times this fall, and has had an ace in 10 of her last 11 matches
•    Blackwell had four kills in the first, second and fourth sets as well for the Jaguars 
•    Blackwell has had seven or more kills in 10 of her 16 matches this fall
•    Blackwell has posted eight or more points in 13 of her 16 matches, and had 11.5 or more points in each of her last six
•    Blackwell has had seven or more kills in 10 of her 16 matches this fall, and has posted eight or more points 13 times, including 11.5 or more points in each of her last six
•    Since the Texas State series, Blackwell has had eight or more kills every match, including three in double figures, and also hit .353 or better in all six matches
•    Over her last six matches, Blackwell has recorded 37 total blocks (24 sets – 1.54 per set)
•    Blackwell (251) recorded her 250th career kill in the match
•    O'Gorman (650) recorded the 650th kill of her career and surpassed the 200-career block assists mark
•    O'Gorman recorded her 650th career kill in the match
•    The 20-dig match marked the eighth of the season for Wilson and the 17th of her career
•    With her 43 assists, Loberg moved passed former Jag Christine Spikes (1,714, 1975-76) for ninth place as she now has 1,750 career assists

Up Next
•    South Alabama will return home to host a two-match SBC series versus James Madison. First serve of the series opener is set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at Jag Gym.

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