MOBILE, Ala. | Sarah Gooch posted a season-high 23 kills and hit a blistering .475 as South Alabama completed the series sweep over Troy with a 3-1, 2519, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18 victory over the Trojans Saturday afternoon at Jag Gym.

Gooch also added a pair of solo blocks and a block assist for the Jaguars (7-6, 2-0 SBC). The 23 kills by Gooch were the second-most in a match for the junior and her fourth career 20-kill effort. 

Joining Gooch in double figures was Cambria Gaier, who had 13 kills of her own. Defensively, Alexa Strandberg had five blocks of her own, while Maradith O'Gorman chipped in with three.

Troy (2-8, 0-2 SBC) was paced by Amiah Butler's 15 kills. Brooke Forkum added 12 kills of her own for the Trojans. 

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On facing Troy: "If you know anything about our two schools, you know that we get after each other in every sport. We knew the match was going to be a dogfight. We had prepped hard last week for this series. Troy is a formidable group, but we felt good on our home floor."

- On the play of Sarah Gooch: "Sarah was unbelievable today. What she did out there was some super-human stuff. She's a warrior, has the will to fight and will to win. She wants to be out on the floor the entire time. When I have her and Anna (Loberg) connecting like they are, it's a pretty awesome thing for us."

Junior Outside Hitter Sarah Gooch
- On opening conference play with the sweep: "It's really good to open conference play with a sweep. Troy's a rival for us, so we know that no matter the other's record, it's going to be a dogfight every time we face each other. Jag Gym came out for us both matches and it was a lot of fun."

- On her play in the win: "I had seams out there and Anna (Loberg) was giving me some great balls. We really wanted to win the match. We wanted to take the match in three sets, but I'm proud of our group and their tenacity to keep pushing and not let Troy back in it."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Troy 19
•    KEY MOMENT: South Alabama broke open a one-point game (5-4) early in the opening frame with a quick 5-0 run
•    Gooch got the scoring going during the run with back-to-back kills, and after a pair of Trojan attack errors, Strandberg slammed home a kill of her own to put the Jags up 10-4
•    Butler narrowed the Jaguar lead to three (18-15) with a kill, but that was as close as Troy was able to get
•    Gooch later sealed the set win with her fifth kill of the frame as she also hit .625 in the set
•    Gaier was just as good in the opening set as the freshman had six kills of her own
•    As a team, South Alabama had 16 kills and committed just three attack errors for a .361 percentage

Set 2 – South Alabama 26, Troy 24
•    KEY MOMENT: Gooch took over down the stretch and recorded seven of South's final eight points, including four-straight kills to rally the Jaguars
•    Troy set two points away from evening the match at a set apiece after a kill by Olivia Kwiatkowski made it 23-18
•    However, that's when Gooch took over and slammed home three kills over South's next four points
•    After another kill by Kwiatkowski gave Troy set point, Gooch again had the answer, posting four more kills as South Alabama rallied back and took the set 26-24
•    Gooch finished the set with 11 of South's 19 kills in the second set and hit .562 

Set 3 – Troy 25, South Alabama 23
•    KEY MOMENT: After South Alabama had pulled within a point (24-23), Sydney Austin sealed the third-set win for Troy with a kill
•    Troy led by as much as four early on and after South had tied the set back up, extended its lead out to three
•    Gooch trimmed the deficit to 9-7 after a kill, but the Trojans pushed across five of the next seven points to stretch their lead back out to 15-10 after a kill by Butler
•    Trailing 17-11, South Alabama made another late charge trimming the deficit to 21-20 after back-to-back blocks by O'Gorman and Strandberg 
•    Elyse Heffner and Gaier later combined on another block to pull South within one (24-23) again, but Austin recorded the definitive kill to seal the 25-23 win
•    Butler had six kills in the frame to lead the Trojans

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Troy 18
•    KEY MOMENT: Leading by two late, Gaier and Gooch sparked a 3-0 scoring spurt to stretch the lead back out to five
•    Troy threatened to push it to a fifth set, cutting South's lead to 19-17 after a block from Austin and Forkum
•    On the ensuing point though, Gaier slammed home a kill and Gooch then followed with two-straight kills of her own
•    Gaier later added an ace to give South Alabama match point, and a setting error on the ensuing rally by the Trojans clinched the match for the Jaguars
•    South Alabama hit over .300 for the third set in the match, posting a .323 percentage in the final frame

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 89th series meeting and the 44th since 2005 when the Trojans joined the Sun Belt Conference
•    The Jaguars now hold a 53-36 advantage in the all-time series, and a 30-13 mark in the series on its home floor
•    Under Ortiz, the Jags have posted a 44-5 record for a 89.8 home-court win percentage at Jag Gym, and have won 30 of its 33 league home matches
•    Gaier now has 19 sets of four or more this fall, while Gooch now has 18
•    Gooch also now has 40 sets with four or more kills in her Jaguar career, including 15 of six or more
•    The 11 kills in the second set by Gooch were also a new career best, eclipsing her previous mark of 10 set twice last fall – vs. Coastal Carolina (11/16/24) and at James Madison (11/2/24) 
•    Gaier has recorded 12 or more kills in nine of her last 11
•    Gooch has had 12 or more kills in seven of her last nine
•    Gooch has hit .310 or better in six of her last eight matches and had a block in eight of her last 10
•    Anna Loberg has had an ace in eight her last nine and in 10 of her last 12 matches
•    O'Gorman has had seven or more digs in 10 of her 13 matches this fall
•    O'Gorman has had multi-block matches in seven of her last nine
•    Strandberg has had three or more blocks in seven of her last nine and 10 of her 13 matches this season
•    Briana Wilson has had 13 or more digs in 12 of her 13 matches
•    Gooch has reached double figures in kills nine times – 23 for her career – this season, while Gaier has done so in eight of her last nine matches (nine total)

Up Next
•    South Alabama will head back out on the road for a two-match series at ULM. Game one of the SBC series with the Warhawks is set for Friday at 6 p.m.

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