MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama extended its win streak to three as the Jaguars picked up a 3-1 (28-26, 25-17, 21-25, 25-22) win over Tulane Saturday afternoon at the Jaguar Invitational presented by Hampton by Hilton at Providence Park.

Cambria Gaier led the Jaguars (4-3) with 16 kills and a .367 hitting percentage, while the Caledonia, Mich., native posted a career-best five aces and six digs. Middle hitter Dalayla Blackwell was right behind Gaier with a career-best 15 kills and six digs of her own.

Also finishing in double figures offensively for the South was Sarah Gooch (12 kills) and Maradith O'Gorman (11 kills). Briana Wilson led all players with a match-high 19 digs.

As a team, South Alabama finished the match with 15 aces as Rachel Rossman had three and Wilson added two to go along with five other players who had one each. The setter duo of Anna Loberg (34) and Rossman (25) helped South record 64 assists on 69 kills.

Tulane (5-3) was paced offensively by Avery Burk's 17 kills.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
-  On the match and the feel of a postseason match: "We talked in the locker room before today's match about the fact that we're not trying to win 30 matches this year, we're trying to win one match 30 times. One of those matches that we want to win is the Sun Belt Championship match and a semifinal match. One of those other wins is hopefully a NCAA match. Those are going to be big matches, so I was interested in seeing how we would approach this match if it was one of those types of matches. I thought our team showed up today and they were fighting absolutely hard. I thought we were pressing a little early in the first set. Tulane is a very physical team who I expect to do well in their conference. I love the tenacity of our group."

- On the momentum of the team right now: "All through the preseason, I've liked what we've been doing and how we've been growing. We were beaten by some good teams early on, but it wasn't due to a lack of fight from us. As we're going, we need to get better at our execution. Those teams we lost to (Baylor, LSU and Iowa State) are good for a reason, but I like the group that I have. I like how we battle and show up every day. I feel like our focus this last week of practice has been solid, and that they have really been driven. When matches like this are close, the team that works hard, if they are talented and they grind, hopefully they'll have the edge, and today that was us."

Senior right-side hitter Maradith O'Gorman
- On how big this match win was: "We came into this match knowing that Tulane was a good team and that they weren't going to just go away. We had to focus on our side and the film preparation we had had. We had to dig deep and know what they were good at, and we had to realize that we had to be better at those things. I was able to be successful out on the court today, because I was able to rely on my teammates and feed off their energy. It says a lot about a team when you have good team chemistry and can feed off of each other."

- On what's spurred on the three-match win streak: "It really just goes back to what we do in practice. That's been paying off for us, especially during this recent win streak. Going into these next four matches, we will need to hone into our practice and the little things."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 28, Tulane 26
•    KEY MOMENT: Tulane looked as if it had taken the opening set after a Jaguar attack was initially ruled out, but after a challenge, video replay showed that Gooch's attack had touched a Green Wave player, reversing the call and allowing the set to continue
•    Tied at 5-5 early on in the first set, Tulane rattled off five unanswered points, which was ignited by back-to-back kills by Burks
•    South battled back and narrowed the deficit to one (14-13) after Gaier recorded three-straight points for the Jags and a Green Wave attack error
•    Rachel Rossman's ace later tied the set back up at 17-17
•    Gaier tied the set back up at 19-19 four points later as the freshman slammed home her seventh kill of the set
•    Coming out of a time out, Tulane took advantage on a pair of Jaguar errors and Burks put the visitors up by three (22-19) with one of her 10 kills in the frame 
•    The Green Wave later held set point at 24-22, but Blackwell and Gooch posted a kill each to tie the set back up 
•    Tied 26-26, Loberg dumped in a kill to give the Jags the lead and Gooch then recorded an ace to clinch the 28-26 win
•    Gooch came up huge down the stretch as she was responsible for four of South's final five points
•    Gaier and Gooch combined for 14 of South's 22 kills in the opening set
•    Gaier posted a blistering .727 attack percentage as she had eight kills on 11 attacks and committed no errors, and Gooch had six kills and hit .455 
•    As a team, Tulane posted a .382 percentage in the frame

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, Tulane 17
•    KEY MOMENT: South held a 10-8 advantage and O'Gorman made diving one-handed dig to keep rally alive, which the Jags were able to capitalize on as Eva Dittmar dinked in a kill to give the Jaguars the point
•    Gaier got off to another quick start with two more kills and back-to-back aces to put South up 6-4 early on in the second set
•    After Tulane had tied the set back up (8-8), O'Gorman and Alexa Strandberg teamed up to turn back a Green Wave attack 
•    Strandberg then had a solo block and a Dittmar kill to give South the lead for good
•    Tulane narrowed the Jaguar lead to one (13-12), but Blackwell posted back-to-back kills, and later capped off a run with a block assists with Gaier to give South a 17-12 advantage
•    Gaier put the Jags up 19-13 with her third ace of the match and later slammed home her 11th kill of the match to clinch the 25-17, second-set win and put the Jaguars up 2-0
•    Blackwell and O'Gorman each had four kills in the frame

Set 3 – Tulane 25, South Alabama 21
•    KEY MOMENT: South Alabama mounted a late charge, fighting off three-straight set points, and looked as if it had pulled within two (24-22), but a Tulane challenge and video replay showed that a Jag defender was in the net, awarding the point to the Green Wave for the 25-21 win
•    South led 4-3 early on in the third set, but Tulane pushed across six-straight points to take a 9-4 lead
•    Burks had a kill and a pair of aces for the Green Wave to spur on the run for the visitors
•    From there, Tulane held control for the remainder of the set
•    Trailing by eight (24-18) with the Green Wave holding set point, South was able to extend the match after three-straight points, but Burks sealed the 25-21 win with her fifth kill of the frame
•    Tulane committed just one attack error and posted a .406 hitting percentage, its best individual set percentage of the match

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Tulane 22
•    KEY MOMENT: Tulane was able to cut the South lead to as little as one late in the set on three occasions, but each time, Blackwell slammed home a kill each time to turn back the Green Wave
•    Tulane led by as much as three (6-3) early on in the fourth set after a kill by Madison McLin
•    The Jags answered right back with five of the next six points and retook the lead after a kill by Dittmar
•    The Green Wave hung around and after pulling within one (21-20), South Alabama pushed across the next three points to hold match point
•    After two points from Tulane, Gooch clinched the match victory and gave South the 25-22 win with a kill
•    South Alabama had four aces in the frame led by two from Wilson, who also had nine digs in the set

Post-Match Notes
•    South Alabama had four players with 10+ kills for the first time since vs. Coastal Carolina (11/16/24) - Gooch (25), Abryanna Cannon (14), Lillie Simons (14), O'Gorman (12)
•    Gaier's eight kills in the opening set are the most by a Jaguar player this fall and she leads the team with eight sets of four or more kills this season
•    The five aces by Gaier marked the first time since Hannah Maddux (7) vs. Green Bay (9/1/23) that a South Alabama player has had five or more in a match
•    Gooch now has 30 sets with four or more kills in her Jaguar career, including 11 of six or more
•    The 15 kills were a new career high for Blackwell, eclipsing her previous best of 11
•    Blackwell had four kills in each of the final three sets
•    O'Gorman's 11 kills were a season high for the senior
•    The double digit dig match was the 35th of Wilson's career
•    Dating back to last season, Wilson has posted 15 or more digs in 23 of her last 25 matches

Up Next
•    South Alabama will head out on the road and begin a four-match road trip on Tuesday night when it heads to Starkville, Miss., to take on Mississippi State. First serve versus the Bulldogs is set for 5 p.m. at the Newell-Grissom Building.

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