HATTIESBURG, Miss. | Sadie McAda led Southern Miss with 16 kills and also finished with 10 digs as the Golden Eagles took the series finale, 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-16) afternoon at the Southern Miss Wellness Center.
South Alabama (12-14, 7-7 SBC) did not record an ace in the match, while Southern Miss (16-9, 7-7 SBC) finished with six
Sarah Gooch and
Alexa Strandberg led the Jags offensively with seven kills, while
Eva Dittmar finished with six.
Elyse Heffner paced South with five total blocks – one solo and four assists – and Strandberg added four total blocks – one solo and three assists.
Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "Southern Miss started off strong today and stayed pretty consistent throughout the match. They really got after us today and we were never able to find our rhythm. We're here at the end of the year and we have to make sure we keep working hard. I like our group and the talent we have, but we have to pick it up a little more going forward as we get ready for Georgia Southern this weekend."
How It Happened
Set 1 – Southern Miss 25, South Alabama 19
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KEY MOMENT: USM used an early 11-1 run to take the lead for good and build up enough of a cushion in the first set
• South Alabama led by two early on but Southern Miss rattled off seven-straight points to take an 11-5 lead after a kill by McAda
• Following a kill by Gooch, McAda added two more kills and South committed a pair of attack errors to put the Golden Eagles up by nine (15-6) at the media time out
• Trailing 18-10, Blackwell (kill) and Heffer (solo block) ignited a 4-0 spurt to cut the deficit in half
• Coming out of a time out, McAda scored two of USM's next three points to extend the Golden Eagle lead back out to seven (22-15)
• After trading points, South Alabama attempted to rally back with three-straight points and narrowed the deficit to 23-19 after a kill by Blackwell
• Following a time out though, Southern Miss posted the final two points after kills by Allie Hazelwood and McAda
• McAda had seven kills and a .500 hitting percentage in the set as the Golden Eagles hit .306 as a team
Set 2 – Southern Miss 25, South Alabama 23
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KEY MOMENT: South Alabama fought off a pair of set points and pulled within one, but Aubrey Judd sealed the set win with a kill
• Tied 5-5, USM pushed across four-straight points to take a 9-5 advantage after an ace by Sunni Sheppard
• South Alabama cut the deficit to three, but the Golden Eagles answered back with four more unanswered to extend its lead out to 15-8, which Elly Stewart highlighted the run with back-to-back aces
• Coming out of the media time out, the Jaguars reeled off five-straight points – two coming off kills by Gooch and two more off blocks by Strandberg – to trim the deficit to two (15-13)
• USM extended its lead back out to four and over the next several points, the Jags attempted to rally back, twice cutting the deficit in half
• Lillie Johnson's kill put the Golden Eagles one point away from taking the set, but South was able to fight off a pair of set points as Heffner recorded a kill and
Anabelle Cerny and Strandberg teamed up on a block to make it 24-23
• On the next point though, Judd posted a kill to clinch the set for USM
• Strandberg posted her best set in the second frame, leading the Jags with four kills and registering all four of her blocks
• Southern Miss recorded four of its six aces in the match in the second set
• Judd, McAda and Diana Wells each had four kills for the Golden Eagles
Set 3 – Southern Miss 25, South Alabama 16
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KEY MOMENT: Southern Miss used a 6-0 run early on in the final set to take the lead for good and didn't allow South any closer than four the rest of the way
• The Jags led 4-3 early on in the third set, but Southern Miss pushed across six-straight points with McAda registering four of them after three kills and a solo block
• Leading by four (10-6), the Golden Eagles reeled off six of the next eight points and doubled its lead after a kill by Wells
• South Alabama trimmed the deficit to five (17-12) after a solo block by Gooch, but two points later, Southern Miss pushed across three points after a pair of Jaguar attack errors and a kill by Hazelwood
• The 3-0 run was part of a 7-3 Golden Eagle run to close the match as Wells capped off the scoring with a kill to end the match and take the 25-16 win
• The duo of Wells (6) and McAda (5) combined to record 11 of Southern Miss' 17 kills in the final set
Post-Match Notes
• The meeting marked the 61st in the all-time series and the 28th in Hattiesburg
• The win by the Golden Eagles snapped a seven-match win series streak by the Jaguars
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Anabelle Cerny recorded her 16th double-double of the season tying her with Allison Dickenson (1999) abd Tonia Hatfield (1993-95) for 15th on the career chart at South Alabama
• Cerny has had nine or more digs in 18 of her 25 matches this season, and recorded a double-double in eight of her last 10, and seven of her last eight matches
• She is also now tied with Dickenson for sixth on the single-season list in the category
• With her block assist, Blackwell moved into a tie for 10th with Lillie Simons (2020-24) for career total blocks
• Blackwell reached the 550-kill mark for her career, while
Addison Hurst also reached the 800-dig mark
• Gooch has recorded a solo block in 10 of her last 16 matches and has 17 this season
• Gooch has recorded eight or more digs in eight of her last nine
Up Next
• South Alabama will return home to close out the regular season with a two-match series with Georgia Southern. First serve of the series opener is set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at Jag Gym.
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