BIRMINGHAM, Ala. | South Alabama used a balanced offensive attack Saturday versus Auburn as five players had seven or more kills, but the Tigers picked up a 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18) win at the Alabama Showdown held at the Pete Hanna Center.

Cambria Gaier led the Jaguars (5-6) with 13 kills to go along with a pair of aces and five digs. Eva Dittmar and Maradigth O'Gorman each had eight kills, while Sarah Gooch and Alexa Strandberg had seven apiece. 

Briana Wilson was one of three players to register double digits defensively as she had 15 digs. Rachel Rossman and O'Gorman also had 13 and 11, respectively.

While South Alabama was held to a .101 hitting percentage and committed 35 attack errors. The Tigers (9-2) posted 20.0 total blocks – two solo and 36 assists – to aid the offensive errors by the Jags. Kate Mansfield led all players with 11 block assists, while Bel Zimmerman had nine, and Grace Havlicek was credited with seven assists.

Lauren Devers had a match-high 15 kills for Auburn, while Zimmerman added 12 of her own.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On his team battling today against a quality opponent after a tough loss yesterday: "We hate to lose, but I'm really proud of our group as they showed up in many different ways for us in this match after the tough loss that we had yesterday. They could have buckled or felt sorry for themselves today, but I don't think we did that at all. I felt like we went after Auburn today and they had to really work to stay with us. They're a quality team and will do well in the SEC. I'm really proud of my group though."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – Auburn 25, South Alabama 18
•    KEY MOMENT: Trailing by one, South Alabama had a chance to tie the contest up, but a serving error led to a 4-1 Auburn run
•    AU 16-15 after Gooch kill, but the Tigers pushed across four of the next five to open up a four-point advantage, 20-16, following a kill by Grace Havlicek
•    From there, Auburn held control and closed out the set by taking nine of the final 12 points
•    Kate Mansfield and Bel Zimmerman clinched the 25-18 set win with a block – each's fourth of the set

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, Auburn 23
•    KEY MOMENT: After Auburn used a 7-2 run late to pull within one, Dittmar clinched the second set with a kill
•    Leading 7-6, 4-0 South run capped off by a block by Strandberg and O'Gorman
•    After the Tigers recorded a point, the Jaguars reeled off four more unanswered points – a kill by Gooch, back-to-back kills by O'Gorman and blocks from Dittmar and Strandberg – giving South a 15-7 lead
•    South Alabama later led 22-16, but Auburn answered back and eventually pulled within one (24-23) after kill by Lauren Devers, but Dittmar sealed the win for the Jaguars on the next point
•    O'Gorman led the Jaguars with four kills and didn't commit an attack error for a .667 hitting percentage

Set 3 – Auburn 25, South Alabama 22
•    KEY MOMENT: With South Alabama mounting a late charge and cutting the Tiger lead to two (24-22), Eden Bower and Kate Mansfield teamed up for a block to seal the win
•    Auburn led 6-5 early on in the third set and gained some breathing room as Zimmerman ignited a 6-1 with a kill
•    Auburn led 22-16, but South kept battling and mounted a late rally attempt cut it to 22-19 after a kill by Graier – one of her five in the set – and a solo block by Dittmar
•    With Auburn holding set point, 24-20, fought off a pair, before a block sealed the win for the Tigers
•    The Tigers were led offensively by the duo of Dreves (7) and Zimmerman (4) who had 11 of Auburn's 12 kills in the set

Set 4 – Auburn 25, South Alabama 18
•    KEY MOMENT: South Alabama cut the deficit to 11-10, but coming out of a time out, Zimmerman led an 8-1 Tiger run to open things back up for Auburn
•    Auburn led 11-7 in the fourth set after a kill by Liz Markovska, but South registered three-straight kills and pulled within one after a kill by Strandberg
•    Coming out of a time out, the Tigers quickly regained momentum as they answered by taking eight of the next nine points, four coming from Zimmerman who had three kills and a block during the pivotal stretch 
•    Auburn's Havlicek later sealed the 25-18 set win and the match with a kill
•    Zimmer again keyed the Tiger offense with six more kills in the final frame

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 29th in the all-time series, and with the win, Auburn extended its series win-streak to 10
•    With her two sets of four or more kills in the match, Gaier now has a team-best 15 sets of four or more in the category, including seven of five or more
•    Gaier has recorded double-digit kill tallies in five of her last six matches, including three straight
•    Gaier has recorded 12 or more kills in seven of her last nine
•    O'Gorman has had seven or more digs in eight of her 11 matches, and 11 or more in each of her last three
•    O'Gorman also has had multi-block matches in five of her last seven
•    Strandberg has had three or more blocks in five of her last seven and eight of her 11 matches this season
•    Dating back to last season, Wilson has posted 15 or more digs in 26 of her last 30 matches, and has had 13 or more digs in 10 of her 11 matches this fall

Up Next
•    South Alabama will return home to open up Sun Belt Conference play next weekend when they welcome in-state rival Troy. First serve of the series opener versus the Trojans on Friday is set 6 p.m. at Jag Gym.

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