MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama's Eva Dittmar was one of three players in double figures and recorded a career-high 14 kills, but the Jaguars dropped the series opener to James Madison, 3-1 (24-22, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23) Thursday night at Jag Gym.

Along with Dittmar, who also hit .444 in the match, Cambria Gaier led South Alabama (13-9, 8-3 SBC) with 16 kills, while also posting four block assists. Maradith O'Gorman and Anna Loberg both nearly recorded double-doubles in the loss. O'Gorman finished with 14 kills and nine digs, while Loberg had 45 assists and nine digs of her own.

James Madison (17-6, 10-1 SBC) extended its win streak to 10 and was led by Kennedy Louisell's 20 kills. 

One key stat in the match was at the net where the Dukes held a 16.0 – 10.0 advantage in blocks. Anna Wilson led all players in the category with nine block assists, while Ayen Nhial added six total blocks of her own – one solo and five assists. 

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "I was really proud with how we played tonight. Hats off to JMU, they played the match a little cleaner than we did, but I was proud of the production out of our girls. We figured this series was going to be a dog-fight, and it was. We're looking forward to another night of great volleyball tomorrow night."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – James Madison 25, South Alabama 22
•    KEY MOMENT: South Alabama led by one but the Dukes pushed across four-straight points to take the lead for good
•    JMU led by two (9-7) after a block and an ace by Grace Wenrich, but on the ensuing two points, Gaier ignited a 7-1 run for South over the next eight points with a pair of kills
•    The Jaguars added three more unanswered points following the two kills by the freshman outside hitter, coming on a block and an ace by Alexa Strandberg
•    After a point by the Dukes, Gaier slammed home another kill and Dalayla Blackwell and Dittmar teamed up for a block to give South a 14-10 advantage
•    James Madison tied the set back up (15-15) after another block by Kennedy and Nhial
•    South Alabama later led 18-17 after a block by Strandberg and O'Gorman, but the Dukes regained the lead after four-straight points
•     The Jaguars were able to get as close as one on three occasions down the stretch, the last coming at 23-22 after a kill by Gaier – her fifth of the set
•    On the next point, Kennedy posted her sixth kill of the match and a Jaguar attack error gave JMU the 25-22 set win
•    Gaier posted a .625 hitting percentage in the frame for South as she didn't commit an attack error, while Kennedy posted a .556 percentage

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, James Madison 22
•    KEY MOMENT: JMU cut the Jaguar lead to one (23-22), but coming out of a time out, committed a serving error and South Alabama then evened the match as Gaier slammed home her 10th kill
•    South led by one (5-4) early, but the Dukes used a quick 4-0 run 
•    The duo of Wilson and Melisa Ilter sandwiched a pair of blocks around an ace by Julia McNeley to cap of the scoring and give JMU the 8-5 lead
•    Cut deficit to one (11-10) after a solo block by Dittmar, and later tied the set back up at 14-14 after a kill by O'Gorman and a Duke attack error
•    Tied 16-16, South Alabama took the lead for good after a Gaier kill and a block by the freshman and Blackwell put the home team up by two
•     The two-point cushion would prove beneficial as James Madison trimmed the deficit to one five times down the stretch, with the last coming at 23-22 following a kill by Ana Toumazatos
•    Coming out of time out though, JMU served the ball into the net and Gaier then slammed home another kill, her fifth of the frame, to seal the 25-22 set win
•    South Alabama had its best offensive performance of the match in the second set, recording 16 kills and hitting .333

Set 3 – James Madison 25, South Alabama 23
•    KEY MOMENT: South Alabama battled all the way back and pulled within one (24-23), but coming out of a time out, Ilter posted a kill to clinch the set win for the Dukes
•    The Jaguars grabbed the early momentum, picking up three of the first four points
•    Trailing by one (6-5), James Madison used a 5-1 run over the next six points to take the lead for good
•    Toumazatos began the scoring with a kill and Addie Norman and Wilson sandwiched a pair of blocks around a kill by Wilson to give JMU a four-point advantage
•    JMU maintained the lead for much of the remainder of the set, but trailing 23-19 late in the set, the Jaguars reeled off four of the next five points
•    Dittmar began the run with a kill, and Preslee Thompson then dropped in an ace
•    A block by Nhial and Toumazatos then gave the Dukes set point, but South Alabama stayed alive as O'Gorman slammed home a kill and Gaier and Elyse Heffner combined for a block to trim the deficit to one (24-23)
•    Ilter then sealed the 25-23 win for James Madison with sixth kill of the match

Set 4 – James Madison 25, South Alabama 23
•    KEY MOMENT: South Alabama pulled within one, but saw its serve go just long on the final point to give the Dukes the match victory
•    South Alabama again got off to a quick start, grabbing four of the first five points in the fourth set, but JMU answered back with a 6-1 run over the next seven points to take its first lead (7-5) after a kill by Toumazatos, who had the final three points of the run with the kill and a pair of blocks
•    JMU later extended its lead out to six (13-7) after block assists from Kennedy and Wilson
•    The Dukes led 20-14 later in the frame, and the Jaguars began to chip away at the deficit, cutting it to two (22-20) after an attack error from the visitors 
•    Ditmar later pulled South within a point at 23-22 with a kill, and then added another two points later to fight off one match point by James Madison
•    On the ensuing point though, South Alabama's serve was just long, giving the Dukes the set and the match victory
•    Both Dittmar and Gaier had five kills in the frame for the Jaguars, but JMU held a 5.0 – 1.0 advantage in blocks in the set
•    James Madison also posted a .382 hitting percentage in the final frame, committing just two attack errors

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the seventh in the all-time series and the third series meeting in Mobile
•    The loss by the Jags snapped a four-match win streak in the series
•    Gaier now leads the club with 38 sets of four or more kills and has done so in 24 of her 38 Sun Belt Conference sets played
•    Gaier has recorded 12 or more kills in 16 of her last 20, and recorded double figures 17 times, and led the Jaguar offense in six of her last seven matches
•    Blackwell has had seven or more kills in 11 of her 17 matches this fall
•    has posted eight or more points in 14 of her 17 matches, and had 11.5 or more points in six of her last seven
•    Over her last seven matches, Blackwell has recorded 42 total blocks 
•    Loberg 35 or more assists each of her last eight matches 
•    O'Gorman has had seven or more digs in 16 of her 22 matches this fall
•    O'Gorman has eight or more kills in five of her last six matches (62 total), and hit over .300 in three of those outings
•    Alexa Strandberg has had multiple blocks in 11 of her last 13 matches 

Up Next
•    South Alabama will conclude the series with James Madison on Friday night with first serve of the series finale set for 6 p.m. at Jag Gym.

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