MOBILE, Ala. |
Cambria Gaier (13) and
Dalayla Blackwell (12) combined for 25 kills as South Alabama completed the series sweep of ULM Friday evening with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 19-25, 25-16) win at Jaguar Gym.
With the win, South Alabama (11-13, 6-6 SBC) has now won four of its last five matches.
In addition to her 13 kills, Gaier also matched a career high with five service aces, to go along with five digs and a solo block.
Blackwell also recorded three total blocks, while
Alexa Strandberg led all players with six block assists. The Jaguars held an 11.0 – 2.0 advantage in blocks, and held the Warhawks (9-17, 3-9 SBC) to an .075 hitting percentage on defense.
Elyse Heffner also added eight kills and didn't commit an attack error, while
Addison Hurst posted a career-high 21 digs.
Abby Cunningham led ULM with 10 kills in the loss.
Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match and series win: "All of the West Division always gets after each other. I'm happy we were able to get the 'W. Getting Cambria (Gaier) back this weekend was awesome. She was able to get some of the rust off after being out the past month. A lot of people stepped up. We have a wide variety of talent and there are some that didn't play tonight that played last night who were pretty good. I like all the arms and talent that we have on our team. We're just going to keep growing."
How It Happened
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, ULM 19
•
KEY MOMENT: South Alabama used a 7-0 run early on in the set to grab momentum and take the lead for good
• After trading the first two points of the match, South Alabama reeled off the next seven points, highlighted by four aces by Gaier, the final two giving the Jags an 8-1 advantage
• Holding a four-point lead (9-5), the Jags broke things open as they took six of the next seven points
•
Elyse Heffner and Strandberg combined for three kills and teamed up on a block during the run, which put South up nine (15-6) at the media time out
• South Alabama led 19-11 after back-to-back kills by
Sarah Gooch and
Eva Dittmar, but over the next seven points, ULM battled back and narrowed the deficit to five (21-16) after a kill by Kenzie Behl
• Coming out of a time out though, Heffner – who had four kills in the set – slammed one home to end the Warhawk run
• ULM later pulled within four (23-19) following a kill by Cunningham, but Blackwell and Dittmar posted kills to seal the set win
• Heffner didn't commit an error in her four attacks and as a team, South Alabama posted a .355 hitting percentage
• In addition to her four aces, Gaier also had a pair of kills in the set
Set 2 – South Alabama 25, ULM 19
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KEY MOMENT: ULM trimmed the Jaguar lead to four late in the set, but Gaier and Blackwell slammed home back-to-back kills to help South Alabama regain momentum
• Tied 4-4, 5-1 Jag run after kills by Gaier, Gooch and Strandberg and a pair of ULM attack errors
• ULM began to chip away at the South Alabama lead, cutting it to 11-10 after kills by Cunningham and Tatum Clay
• Blackwell and Dittmar then posted a block and
Addison Hurst was able to get her serve to trickle over net for an ace
• Three points later, Strandberg registered a kill ignited a 4-0 scoring spurt, which also included a solo block and a kill by Gaier, to extend South's lead to 18-12
• South Alabama led 22-15 after Gaier's sixth kill of the match, but the Warhawks reeled off three unanswered points to pull within four
• That was as close as ULM would get though as Gaier and Blackwell answered with kills and two points later, South took the set (25-19) after an attack error
• Blackwell and Gaier each had five kills apiece to lead the South Alabama offensive attack in the second set
Set 3 – ULM 25, South Alabama 19
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KEY MOMENT: Trailing by one late in the set, the Warhawks reeled off six unanswered points to take the lead for good
• South Alabama got off to a quick start in the third set, picking up six of the first eight points, with two coming off kills by Gaier
• The Warhawks battled back and took its first lead of the match (14-13) after a kill by Aniya Hall, capping of a 5-1 run
• With South Alabama holding a 17-16 lead, the Warhawks pushed across six-straight points, highlighted by three-straight aces by Morgan Howard, to give ULM a 22-17 advantage, and later captured the set (25-19) after a pair of Jaguar attack errors
• After being held to just three kills over the first two sets, Hall posted three in the third set
• The Warhawks recorded four of their seven aces in the match in the set
Set 4 – South Alabama 25, ULM 16
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KEY MOMENT: After ULM had trimmed the lead to two (14-12) midway through the set, South Alabama scored 11 of the final 15 points
• South Alabama grabbed the first four points of the fourth frame, but ULM answered back with five of the next six to tie the set up
• Trailing by two, the Warhawks pushed across four-straight and took a 10-8 lead after a kill by Cunningham
• On the ensuing point though, Heffner posted a kill, igniting 6-1 Jaguar run, giving South a 14-11 after ULM's fourth attack error of the scoring spurt
• After a ULM point, Gaier bookended a 5-0 Jaguar run with a pair of kills to extend South's lead to 19-12
• The Warhawks answered with three points of their own, and cut the deficit to four after a solo block by Zharia Alleyne
• However, South Alabama closed strong, ending the match on a 6-1 run, which included the final four points – all coming off kills by Dittmar, Heffner, Gaier and Gooch – to give the Jags the 25-16 victory
• Dittmar led the Jags with four kills and hit .571 in the final set
Post-Match Notes
• The meeting marked the 33rd in the all-time series and the 15th in Mobile
• With the win, South Alabama won its 15th-straight in the series and improved to 15-0 on its home floor
• The 21 digs by Hurst also helped the senior eclipse the 750-dig mark for her career as she now has 767 for her Jaguar career
• Blackwell has had three or more total blocks 17 of her 24 matches
• Blackwell has had double-digit kills in seven of her last nine (13 on the season), 96 total over that stretch
• Gaier has recorded double-digit kill totals in eight of her last 10, and 12 matches this fall
• Gooch has recorded a solo block in eight of her last 14 matches and has 15 this season
• Hurst has recorded two or more service aces in seven of her last 12, and done so 10 times this fall
Up Next
• South Alabama will head to Southern Miss for a two-match SBC series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m.
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