BIRMINGHAM, Ala. | South Alabama picked up the first two sets Friday afternoon, but UAB rallied back to take the final three and earn the 3-2 (18-25, 19-25, 25-21, 26-24, 15-10) at the Alabama Showdown held at the Pete Hannah Center.

Cambria Gaier led South (5-5) as she tied a career high with 17 kills. Sarah Gooch was close behind her with 16 kills of her own and a .343 hitting percentage. Eva Dittmar also set a career high with 11 kills of her own, while Maradith O'Gorman and Alexa Strandberg each had eight kills. Briana Wilson paced the club with 23 digs. 

As a team, South Alabama recorded 11 aces with three each from Wilson and O'Gorman.

Unlike Thursday night's match, the Jaguars were out-blocked at the net as UAB held an 11.0-5.0 advantage in the category.

Kennedy Vaughn led UAB (7-4) with a match-high 26 kills, while Abby Jones (15) and Lia Beverly (10) also finished the match in double figures offensively. 

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the loss: "I thought we started off pretty strong today, but after the break, I thought we were a little complacent. I felt that we weren't aggressive like we were in the first two sets. We were a machine and were really getting after it and aggressive. Kudos to UAB at just coming at us. They were relentless and did a lot of things well. There are better days ahead and we're just going to have to keep working hard. We need to make sure we turn this into a lesson. I don't think it was a lack of trying, but more of a lack of execution. We'll look to be better tomorrow."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, UAB 18
•    KEY MOMENT: After UAB had pulled within two (14-12), South Alabama rattled off six unanswered points
•    Maradith O'Gorman recorded an ace to open the match and South Alabama took five of the first six points, eventually jumping out to an 8-2 advantage
•    Gaier led the Jag offense early with three kills over South's first six points, and Gooch also added two kills of her own
•    Trailing by seven, Kennedy Vaughn recorded a kill and back-to-back aces to begin a Blazer run as they cut the Jag advantage to two (11-9)
•    Later leading by two (14-12), South gained some breathing room with an 8-1 run over the next nine points and took a 22-13 lead after an ace by Emily Ready
•    O'Gorman later sealed the 25-18 victory with a kill, one of five players to record multiples in the set
•    South Alabama was led by Gaier's four kills, while the group hit .464 in the frame committing just one error on its 28 attempts

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, UAB 19
•    KEY MOMENT: Trailing 8-7 in the second set, South Alabama took the lead for good with a 10-2 run
•    UAB led by one after a kill by Abby Jones, but Dittmar ignited a 7-0 run for the Jags, and the redshirt freshman and Standberg later each added a kill to give South a 14-8 advantage
•    The Blazers were only able to get as close as five the rest of the way as the Jags picked up the 25-19 win in the second set after a Blazer service error
•    Strandberg had four kills in the set, while Gooch, Dittmar and Gaier each had three kills apiece for the Jaguars 

Set 3 – UAB 25, South Alabama 21
•    KEY MOMENT: With South Alabama holding a one-point advantage, UAB rattled off four-straight points to take the lead for good in the third set
•    Leading 9-8, South Alabama was the first to open things up in the third set, reeling off three-straight points to take a 12-8 on a kill by Dittmar
•    Two points later though, UAB answered back with four unanswered points and tied the set back up at 13-13 after a kill by Vaughn
•    South led 18-17 after an ace by Addison Hurst, but the Blazers pushed across the next four points 
•    After a Jag serving error, Abby Jones recorded a kill, Summer Snead then had an ace and Kennedy Jones and Lia Beverly teamed up for a block to give UAB the 21-18 lead
•    Vaughn later slammed home her 12th kill of the match to give the Blazers the 25-21 victory
•    Jones (5) and Vaughn (4) combined for nine of UAB's 13 kills in the set 

Set 4 – UAB 26, South Alabama 24
•    KEY MOMENT: After South fought off a pair of set points, UAB was able to pick up the final two points of the fourth set and even the match back up
•    13 ties and five lead changes with no team leading by more than two points to the media time out
•    Dittmar cut the Blazer lead to one (16-15) with a kill, but Beverly's kill on the ensuing point ignited a 5-0 run that saw UAB to stretch its lead out to 21-15
•    South answered back with six unanswered points, as Wilson had back-to-back aces and Gaier recorded three kills during the run, her last two tying the set back up at 21-21
•    UAB was able to regain the lead and held set point at 24-22, but Gooch posted back-to-back kills to even things back up
•    Vaughn then answered with a kill of her own – her eighth of the set – and Kennedy Jones and Snead combined to turn back a Jaguar attack and give the Blazers the 26-24 fourth-set win

Set 5 – UAB 15, South Alabama 10
•    KEY MOMENT: After evening the match, UAB grabbed the first three points of the fifth set to lead wire-to-wire in the final frame
•    Leading by four, Blazers used 3-0 run and take a 10-4 run after back-to-back kills by Jones and a Jaguar attack error
•    South was able to fight off a pair of match points, before UAB sealed the 15-10 win after another kill by Vaughn
•    Vaughn again powered the Blazer offense with six more kills in the set

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 42nd in the all-time series 
•    Gaier has now led South offensively six times this fall, while Gooch has done so five
•    Gaier has recorded 12 or more kills in six of her last eight
•    Gooch increased her season total to a team-best 14 sets of four or more kills, while Gaier now has 13 sets of four or more
•    Gooch has reached double figures in kills eight times – 22 for her career – this season, while Gaier has done so in five of her last six matches
•    Gooch has had 12 or more kills in each of her last six and seven of her last eight
•    Gooch has hit .310 or better in her last five matches 
•    Anna Loberg has had an ace in six straight and eight of her last nine matches
•    Dating back to last season, Wilson has posted 15 or more digs in 25 of her last 29 matches
•    Wilson has had 13 or more digs in nine of her 10 matches this fall and two or more aces in three of her last five
•    The 23 digs marked the 12th 20-dig match of Wilson's Jaguar career

Up Next
•    South Alabama will conclude play at the Alabama Showdown on Saturday when the Jags take on Auburn with first serve versus the Tigers set for 3:30 p.m.

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