BATON ROUGE, La. | South Alabama took the first set and held a late lead in the third set, but 20th-ranked Baylor rallied back to defeat the Jags 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 30-28, 25-17) Friday afternoon at Pete Maravich Assembly Center in both club's season opener.

South Alabama (0-1) was led offensively by Sarah Gooch's 11 kills, while Cambria Gaier and Eva Dittmar both had nine kills each. Alexa Strandberg had seven block assists, while three other Jags had six total blocks – Gooch (one solo, five assists), Maradith O'Gorman (six block assists) and Dalayla Blackwell (two solo, four assists). Briana Wilson also finished with a match-high 25 digs.

Baylor (1-0) placed three players in double figures offensively, led by MJ McCurdy's 12 kills and match-best .550 attack percentage. Grace Carroll chipped in with 11 and a .421 percentage, while Manuela Bibinbe had 10 kills.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the performance of his team: "I really appreciated the effort from our team today. I thought they all worked really hard and we have definitely improved since last weekend. Baylor's a really good team who is ranked in the Top 25, so kudos to them, but I'm really proud of our group and I like our progression and how we came out fighting. I expect us to keep improving and as time goes on, I look for us to continue growing as a squad. We're not happy about the losses, but I am pleased with the performance and feel like there are better days ahead for us."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, No. 20 Baylor
•    KEY MOMENT: Tied at 23-23, South Alabama called a time out and coming out of the break, the Jags picked up the final two points after a Baylor serving error and then a block assists by Sarah Gooch and Dalayla Blackwell
•    Alexa Strandberg had four kills in the opening frame for South, while four other players had two or more kills to lead a balanced offensive attack
•    Four players for the Jags also had two block assists in the set
•    There were 14 ties and eight lead changes in the set
•    Wilson had 12 of her 25 digs in the opening frame

Set 2 – No. 20 Baylor 25, South Alabama 18
•    KEY MOMENT: With the set tied 14-14, the Bears rattled off five of the next six points to take the lead for good
•    Baylor also closed out the set with another 5-1 run and evened the match after a kill by Victoria Davis
•    The Jags and the Bears both had balanced attacks as five different players had two or more kills

Set 3 – No. 20 Baylor 30, South Alabama 28
•    KEY MOMENT: Tied at 28-28 in extra points, Baylor was able to pick up the final two points after a kill by Bibinbe and block assists by Carroll and Gabrielle Essex  
•    Carroll led Baylor with six kills in the set 
•    South Alabama led 20-16 after kill by Dittmar – her sixth of the match – but Baylor pushed across seven of the next nine points to retake the lead
•    The Jags led by as much as five (19-14) after a 4-0 run after a kill by O'Gorman
•    South held set point two different times in extra points

Set 4 – No. 20 Baylor 25, South Alabama 17
•    KEY MOMENT: Holding a two-point advantage (10-8), Baylor grabbed control of the fourth set with a 6-1 spurt over the next seven points
•    Kseniya Rakhmanchyk capped off the run with an ace to give the Bears a 16-9 advantage
•    McCurdy (6), Davis (4) and Bibinbe (4) combined for 14 of Baylor's 16 kills in the final frame as the Bears recorded their best hitting percentage (.344) of the match

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the third in the all-time series and the first between the two clubs since the 1991 season
•    It was also the 11th time in program history that the Jags have faced a current member from the Big 12
•    South Alabama is also scheduled to face Big 12-member Iowa State (9/6) during Week 2 of the season in Milwaukee, Wis.
•    Briana Wilson reached the 15-plus dig mark midway through the second set
•    With her 25 digs, Wilson (671) eclipsed the 650-dig mark for her career, and she is 29 digs shy of 700
•    The 25-dig performance marked the fifth most by Wilson in a match and was her ninth career match with 20 or more digs
•    Dating back to last season, Wilson has posted 15 or more digs in 19-straight matches, and 20 or more in six of her last seven
•    Blackwell (53) eclipsed the 50-block assists mark for her career in the match
•    South's freshmen combined for 24 of the Jags' 47 kills
•    The 11-kill performance marked the 15th double-digit kill match of Gooch's career

Up Next
•    South Alabama will take on LSU Saturday night with first serve set for 7 p.m.

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