University of South Alabama Athletics

MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama used a balanced offensive attack as three players finished with 12 kills and two others with nine as the Jaguars bounced back and defeated Georgia State, 3-0 (25-21, 20-25, 25-11, 25-20) Sunday afternoon at the Jaguar Classic held at Jaguar Gym.

Dalayla Blackwell posted 12 kills, nine total blocks - three solo and six assists – while hitting .474 in the match. Eva Dittmar also had 12 kills and hit .346 for South Alabama (1-2), while Cambria Gaier posted her first double-double of the season with 12 kills and 12 digs. 

Sarah Gooch (.350) and Alexa Strandberg (.444) each had nine kills, 

Freshman setter Anabelle Cerny nearly had her third double-double of the season, finishing with 45 assists, seven digs and four blocks.

Addison Hurst led the club with 14 digs and a career-best four service aces.

Georgia State (0-3) was led by Akira Burt (12) and Sophia Johnson (11). Johnson also finished with nine digs, four service aces and three blocks.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On today's match: "We try to schedule hard in the preseason because we want to make sure we prepare ourselves. Sometimes you take your lumps when you do that, but sometimes you have some really tremendous matches where your team grows. I thought we saw a little bit of both this weekend. I'm really happy about their resiliency and how they responded today. They came in on a mission and it should. They were really driven and it showed."

- On Anabelle Cerny's ability to distribute the ball: "She's a tremendous brain and athlete. Having (assistant coach) Morgan Stalcup, who is one of our offensive coordinators, and her ability to read the blocks is tremendous, and then also having last year's Sun Belt Conference Setter of the Year in Anna Loberg guide Anabelle is great. Those two are working great together."

Senior Middle Hitter Dalayla Blackwell
- On getting the win: "It feels great. Regardless of what happened in the previous matches this weekend, I just wanted to make sure my team knew to just keep working. No matter the outcome, just keep working every, single ball, every single game."

- On helping the younger players on the team: "I'm just trying to be a leader and encourage our young players. I just want to let them know that no matter what happens in the game, just keep going. We're learning as we go."

- On her energy on the court: "I'm very passionate out there. I love the game of volleyball and I love my teammates."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Georgia State 21
•    KEY MOMENT: Georgia State trimmed the Jaguar lead to one late in the set, but an Strandberg kill ignited a 4-1 Jaguar run to close the set
•    Gaier kill – her fourth of the opening set – capped off a run of three-straight points to give the Jags a four-point advantage (13-9)
•    Holding a two-point advantage, South Alabama rattled off six straight points, two coming on kills by Dittmar and two off aces by Hurst, to extend the Jaguar lead out to eight (20-12)
•    Following a time out, the Panthers began to rally back, taking eight of the next nine points, and cut the Jaguar lead to 21-20 after a kill by Burt
•    On the ensuing possession, Standberg slammed home a kill and Gaier followed with an ace to start a 4-1 Jaguar run
•    After a GSU point, Gooch recorded a kill of her own and Blackwell and Cerny then teamed up on a block to clinch the 25-21 set win
•    Strandberg and Gaier each had four kills, while the Jags posted a .321 hitting percentage in the frame
•    Johnson had four kills of her own and three aces for the Panthers

Set 2 – Georgia State 25, South Alabama 20
•    KEY MOMENT: After South Alabama had pulled with in three (23-20), Johnson grabbed the first of the final two points of the set with her seventh kill of the match 
•    Panthers opened up the second set on a 6-1 run, which was capped off by Johnson's fourth ace of the match and a kill by Jayden Eaker
•    Julie Arias aces (12-6) Georgia State's seventh of the match, forcing a time out by the Jags 
•    South Alabama continued to battle, getting as close as two (18-16) after back-to-back Panther attack errors
•    Blackwell trimmed the deficit to 23-20 with a kill of her own, but GSU captured the final two points to even the set

Set 3 – South Alabama 25, Georgia State 11
•    KEY MOMENT: Holding a 12-8 lead midway through the frame, South Alabama dominated the rest of the way, capturing 13 of the final 16 points
•    Tied 3-3, Strandberg gave the Jags the lead for good as she recorded four of South's next six points with three kills and a block assist (9-4)
•    The Panthers cut Jag lead to two (9-7) following a time out, but Strandberg and Gaier answered with back-to-back kills followed by a solo block from Blackwell – her second of the contest
•    Leading by four, Gooch ignited the pivotal run with back-to-back kills and Blackwell then slammed home a kill of her own to send us to the media time out (15-8)
•    Coming out of the media time out, Blackwell teamed up with Cerny and Dittmar for a pair of block assists to extend the Jaguar lead to 17-8
•    South was able to grab a double-digit advantage a few points later after three more Blackwell kills and a kill by Gaier
•    Blackwell later sealed the 25-11 victory with her ninth kill of the night
•    Blackwell was dominant in the third set as she recorded seven kills on seven attempts (1.000) and three total blocks – one solo and two assists
•    Strandberg also had four kills and Gaier and Gooch each had three kills apiece
•    As a team, South Alabama had 18 kills in the set and posted a .452 hitting percentage

Set 4 – South Alabama 25, Georgia State 20
•    KEY MOMENT: Holding a two-point advantage, South Alabama rattled off a 5-0 run, which was highlighted by a pair of kills by Dittmar and back-to-back aces from Hurst, to break things open in the fourth set
•    Tied 8-8, South Alabama took the lead for good as Blackwell sandwiched a pair of kills around a Georgia State attack error, and then teamed up with Dittmar for a block to give the Jags a four-point advantage
•    GSU was able to cut the deficit to two on a couple of occasions, but South later extended its lead to 18-11 with five unanswered points after two more kills by Dittmar, a kill from Gooch and back-to-back service aces from Hurst
•    From there, Georgia State was only able to get as close as three the rest of the way before Dittmar slammed home her sixth kill of the set and her 12th of the night to seal the 25-20 set win

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the first non-conference meeting between the two Sun Belt foes since the 2021 season at the SBC Championship
•    It was the 25th in the series which South now leads 17-8 and has won four straight
•    The Jaguars also improved to 9-0 at home in the series versus the Panthers
•    Blackwell and Gaier have now led the Jags in kills each match this fall, while Blackwell has also done so in blocks
•    The three solo blocks tied a career best for Blackwell and her nine total blocks were one shy of matching a career mark
•    Hurst's career-high four service aces bested her previous high of three set against McNeese State during the 2024 season
•    With her 12 kills, Dittmar moved passed the 200 kill mark for her career
•    The double-double was the fourth of Gaier's career

Up Next
•    South Alabama will next head to Belmont to take on the Bruins on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Curb Event Center. The Jags will also take on Middle Tennessee on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Lipscomb on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Allen Arena.

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