MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama took the opening set, but Louisiana rallied back to take the final three and open the series with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-18) win Friday evening at Jaguar Gym.
Sarah Gooch nearly recorded a double-double for South Alabama (7-12, 2-5 SBC) as she finished with 14 kills and nine digs in the loss to go along with three blocks – two solo and one assist.
Dalayla Blackwell also finished in double figures with 11 kills.
Anabelle Cerny recorded her 10th double-double of the fall with 34 assists and 10 digs, while
Addison Hurst recorded a team-high 16 digs.
Lolo Lambert led Louisiana (10-10, 5-2 SBC) with a match-high 17 kills and 16 digs.
Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match and offensive aggressiveness: "I thought we started the match off strong and came out strong in the second set as well, but we had a few too many errors that helped them get back in the match. We had one rotation that we got stuck in during their run when we were ahead by three or four points, which didn't help.
"As the match wore on, we weren't really aggressive in their out-of-system and two-pass situations. We have to be more aggressive even when it isn't perfect. That's the nature of volleyball though. When you're in those situations, it's all about how you react to them. If you go soft and just roll shot and give easy balls to the opponent, they're about to give you some fast balls. We have to do a better job of establishing ourselves offensively.
"We didn't hit negatively tonight because we were being mindful about the situations we had, but we have to get after it more offensively. We aren't going to beat teams by tipping and rolling, so we're going to have to be aggressive and take our shots. I'm looking for us to be more aggressive tomorrow."
How It Happened
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Louisiana 22
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KEY MOMENT: Tied 21-21,
Alivia Freeman and Eva Ditmar slammed home back-to-back kills to give the Jags the lead for good
• South led 5-2 early in the opening set after kill by Blackwell, but UL answered back with an 8-1 run – highlighted by two kills by Lolo Lambert and three aces by Ryleigh Garis, the third capping off a run of five-straight points
• Trailing by three (13-10), South Alabama rallied back on the strength of a 6-1 run, which was led early by a kill by Freeman and a solo block by the junior
• Gooch later slammed home a kill that tied the set up (14-14) and Blackwell and
Alexa Strandberg followed with kills of their own to give the Jaguars a 16-14 advantage
• South Alabama led by three (19-16) after an ace by Gooch, but Louisiana pushed across three-straight points, two coming off a kill and a solo block by Jazmine Gaston that tied the set back up at 19-19
• Tied late in the match, the Jaguars closed strong taking four of the final five points
• Dittmar and Freeman began the pivotal run with back-to-back kills, and UL then had an attack error and a serving error to clinch the 25-22 set win
• South used a balanced offensive attack in the set as Blackwell led all players with four kills, while Freeman and Gooch each had three kills as well
Set 2 – Louisiana 25, South Alabama 21
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KEY MOMENT: Trailing by three, Grace Sweeney led an 8-1 run by the visitors to give UL the momentum and the lead midway through the set
• Riding the momentum of the first-set victory, South Alabama opened up the second frame on an 8-2 run, spurred on by taking six of the first seven points
• Gooch led the way during the run with three kills and an ace – her second of the match – to give the Jags the six-point advantage
• UL trimmed the Jaguar lead to four (8-4), but South answered back with four-straight points to double its lead (12-4)
• Dittmar and Gooch each had a kill, and after an ace by Hurst, Freeman and Cerny teamed up on the block
• The Ragin' Cajuns rattled off an 8-1 run over the next nine points – three coming off kills by Lambert – and pulled within a point (13-12) after block assists by Lambert and Emily Williams
• South led 16-13 after block assists by Strandberg and Blackwell, but a Jaguar service error began a ?? run by the Ragin' Cajuns
• UL battled back and used an 8-1 run over the next nine points to take its first lead of the second set
• Sweeney sparked the Cajun run with five kills and a block assist to give UL a 21-17 lead
• South Alabama was able to pull within two (21-19) after kills by Gooch and Ditmar – who each had five kills each in the set – but that was as close as it would get
• Ryan Miciotto later clinched the set and evened the match at a set a piece with a kill of her own
• Sweeney led UL in the set with seven kills as the Ragin' Cajuns hit .300 in the set
Set 3 – Louisiana 25, South Alabama 22
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KEY MOMENT: Tied 21-21 late in the set, the Ragin' Cajuns took advantage of Jaguar errors and picked up four of the final five points
• Gooch had four of South's first five points as she recorded a pair of kills and two solo blocks at the beginning of the set
• The Jags led by three early (7-4), but Louisiana answered back with four of the next five points and took the lead after kills by Schnell and Lambert
• UL led 15-13 at the media time out, but coming out of the break, South Alabama reeled off three unanswered and took a one-point lead after a kill by Gooch
• The Jags tied the set up at 19-19 after a kill by Freeman – her seventh of the match – but UL quickly retook the lead after kills by Lambert and Gaston
• Coming out of a time out, Gooch kill, Freeman ace just inside the back line to tie it back up
• However, the ensuing serve went long and began a 4-1 run for UL to close the set
• South Alabama also committed three more attack errors to aid the Cajun run
Set 4 – Louisiana 25, South Alabama 18
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KEY MOMENT: Louisiana grabbed five of the first six points to open the set and led the set wire-to-wire to clinch the match
• Louisiana grabbed momentum from the outset as it opened the frame on a 5-1 run, three points coming from Lambert as she had two kills and an ace during the scoring run
• The Cajun lead grew to as much as double digits (23-13) in the set after a kill and a block assist by Schnell
• Lambert later sealed the 25-18 win with her 17th kill of the night
• Louisiana posted its best hitting percentage in the final frame with a .306 hitting percentage
• Lambert led the way with six kills and a .417 percentage
• Blackwell recorded five of South Alabama's 10 kills in the set and hit .500 as she committed just one error
Post-Match Notes
• Friday night's match marked the program's annual "Dig Pink" match
• The meeting marked the 64th in the all-time series and the 27th in Mobile
• With her two block assists, Blackwell now has 251 for her career
• Cerny has had nine or more digs in 13 of her 19 matches this season
• Dittmar has recorded six or more kills in 13 of her last 15 matches
• Freeman has had three or more total blocks in each of her last five matches
• Freeman has had seven or more kills in five of her last seven
• Freeman has hit .364 or better in six of her last seven
• Gooch has recorded a solo block in six of her last eight matches and has 12 this season
• Hurst has had double-digit dig tallies in 14 of her 19 matches
Up Next
• South Alabama will close out the series with Louisiana on Saturday with first serve set for 1 p.m.
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