FOLEY, Ala. | South Alabama used a balanced offensive attack and solid defense to pick up a 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-23) victory over Georgia Southern Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship held at the Foley Event Center.

Alexa Strandberg led South Alabama (15-13) offensively as the red-shirt freshman posted 10 kills – one shy of matching her career best – while also recording a .368 hitting percentage and three total blocks – one solo and two assists.

Cambria Gaier just missed recording her third-straight double-double as the freshman finished the night with nine kills and 14 digs, to go along with an ace and three blocks of her own. Dalayla Blackwell also chipped in with nine kills and four block assists, while Eva Dittmar had eight kills of her own.

Maradith O'Gorman posted a team-high 14 digs and helped the Jaguars hold a 55-44 advantage in that category. Defensively, South also finished the night with nine total blocks and held Georgia Southern (19-9) to a .083 hitting percentage.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On what he saw in his club in the win: "I thought we were extremely focused; I had seen that the entire day. They really wanted to come out tonight and show that they were ready to compete at the Sun Belt tournament. I'm proud of the group. Each individual member of our squad came in ready to go, and I liked how locked in they were. I think that's the way you have to be at this point of the season in order to be successful."

- On Saturday's match up with James Madison: "I thought we played well against JMU in our series during the regular season. They're a good team. At this time of year though, you just have to catch fire. We have two really strong teams that will get after it tomorrow, so we'll get after it and see who wins. I like the fact that the Sun Belt Conference has this much competition in it and this level of play; it's pretty awesome. I love that fact that the Jags are within that group."

Senior right side hitter Maradith O'Gorman
- On the mindset of the team: "We were focused on getting after it right away within the first three points and as soon as we got out on the court. We were focused even before the match. Throughout the day today, we were all in the mindset of being ready to go and be ready to do whatever it takes (to win). We knew it was going to take all of us, every player on the bench and on the court. We were together as a team and coming out strong tonight really helped us."

- On facing JMU in the semifinal round: "They're a great team, but so are we. It's going to be important for us to just have the same mindset and mentally prepare. Coach Ortiz does a great job of scouting our opponents, so trusting in his game-plan will put us in a position to be successful."

Redshirt-freshman middle hitter Alexa Strandberg
- On the focus and goal of the team: "The energy in practice has been really high this week. We don't want to see our seniors leave at all, so we're fighting as hard as we can for them. Myself and Anna (Loberg) have been really talking well on the court, as all of our hitters have lately. She's instilled a confidence in all our hitters, and our passers were dialed in tonight."

- On the defense along the net: "Our blocking calls from the coaches really put us in position to be successful. We watched a lot of film and had scouted them really well. We knew we were going to have to be really dialed in. We were constantly looking at where their hitters were on the floor, so that we could be up and on time."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Georgia Southern 16
•    KEY MOMENT: O'Gorman set the tone from the opening point when she slammed home a kill to give the Jags the lead from the outset
•    South Alabama got off to a quick 5-1 start in the match with Gaier recording four kills during the run and five of the Jaguars' first six points
•    GS cut the Jag advantage to two (6-4), but South stretched the lead back out to seven (11-4) with five-straight points
•    Blackwell ignited the run with a kill and Gaier capped things off with her sixth kill of the set
•    The Eagles pulled within four at 14-10, but that was as close as they would get the remainder of the set 
•    O'Gorman recorded another kill for South Alabama on the next point, and the Jaguars recorded four of the next five points
•    Blackwell and Gaier teamed up on a block later in the set to give South an 18-11 lead, and Strandberg later sealed the 25-16 first-set win with her fourth kill of the frame
•    The Jaguars led wire-to-wire in the set and recorded 17 kills with a .300 hitting percentage in the opening set
•    O'Gorman led South with 10 digs in the set

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, Georgia Southern 19
•    KEY MOMENT: Leading by one late in the set, Dittmar ignited a 5-1 Jaguar run to give South the momentum
•    South Alabama led 14-11 after an ace by Gaier, but Georgia Southern rattled off three-straight points to tie it back up at 14-14
•    After Reagan Barth cut the Jag lead to one (17-16) with a kill, South Alabama was able to push across five of the next six points
•    Dittmar ignited the pivotal run with a kill and the Jaguars later took a 22-17 lead after a kill by Gaier and block assists by Blackwell and O'Gorman
•    Anna Loberg and O'Gorman teamed up on a block to put South at set point, and Blackwell then slammed home a kill on the next point to clinch the 25-19 victory

Set 3 – South Alabama 25, James Madison 23
KEY MOMENT: Blackwell clinched the 25-23 third-set win and clinched the match with her ninth kill of the night to advance South Alabama to the semifinal round
•    The third set proved to be the closest of the match as there were 15 ties and seven lead changes between the two clubs
•    Tied at 18-18, South Alabama was able to push across two-straight points to take the lead for good after a serving error by Georgia Southern and a kill by Strandberg
•    The Jaguars led by as much as three late, but the Eagles were able to fight off a pair of match points before Blackwell's kill to end things – one of her four kills in the frame

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 22nd in the all-time series between the two programs and the third-straight in the quarterfinal round of the league tournament
•    South Alabama has now won 10 of the last 11 meetings in the series, and leads the series 14-8
•    South has won seven of its 10 matches at the Sun Belt Conference Championship under Ortiz, and has advanced to the semifinal round four times during his tenure
•    With her six kills in the opening set, Gaier leads the club with 53 sets of four or more kills, including 14 with six or more, and has done so in 39 of her 61 sets against league foes
•    With her 36 assists, Loberg (2,011) surpassed the 2,000-assists mark for her career
•    Blackwell has had seven or more kills in 15 of her 23 matches this fall, posted eight or more points 18 times, and had 11.0 or more points in 10 of her last 13
•    O'Gorman has had seven or more digs in 21 of her 28 matches this fall, and has had multi-block matches in 18 of her last 24
•    Strandberg has had multiple blocks in 16 of her last 19 matches 

Up Next
•    South Alabama will face James Madison – the top seed from the East Division – in the semifinals of the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Championship with first serve set for 5 p.m. on Saturday.

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