AUBURN, Ala. | South Alabama used a balanced offensive attack as four players finished the match with double-figure kill tallies as the Jags captured a 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 17-25, 25-22) victory over UAB Friday afternoon at the Alabama Showdown, hosted by Auburn at Neville Arena, giving head coach
Jesse Ortiz his 100th career victory.
Cambria Gaier led the Jaguars (5-6) with 12 kills, while she also recorded 11 digs.
Sarah Gooch posted a season-best 11 kills and also added eight digs and three total blocks – one solo and two assists, while
Eva Dittmar and
Alexa Strandberg each had 10 kills apiece. Strandberg also posted a .400 attack percentage and Dittmar was close behind her at .391.
Anabelle Cerny recorded 45 assists and 10 digs, while
Addison Hurst led all players with 18 digs. Cerny also chipped in with a pair of aces and block assists.
Dalayla Blackwell had seven kills and led the club with four block assists.
UAB (6-5) was paced by Kennedy Vaughn's 15 kills and Makayla Miester's 14 in the loss.
Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "I'm really proud of the way our group played today. I thought UAB was a very talented and physical team. We definitely had to put in the work against them, and I liked how we were able to stop them. We showed a lot of fight, and I thought we were very consistent, which is something we've really been working on."
- On reaching the 100-win mark: "I didn't even know that it was my 100th win until I walked into the locker room and they started dousing me with water. It's pretty cool to be part of this program and see where it's come from and to where it is now. I'm proud of our group and extremely happy to be at South Alabama."
How It Happened
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, UAB 23
•
KEY MOMENT: Trailing by two (19-17) late in the set, South Alabama rattled off six of the next seven points to take the lead for good
• UAB led by two (5-3) early on in the opening frame, but South Alabama answered back with five unanswered points and took an 8-5 lead after an ace by
Elyse Heffner
• With the Jags holding a 13-11 lead after a kill by Strandberg, the Blazers rattled off five of the next six points and reclaimed the lead (16-14) after a kill by Meister and a solo block by Mia Reese
• UAB led 19-17 after a kill by Reese – one of her five in the set – the Jags rallied back and tied the set back up two points later after an ace by Gooch
• After exchanging points, Dittmar sparked a 4-0 Jaguar run with a pair of kills and Gaier gave South Alabama a 23-20 lead with a kill of her own
• The Blazers were only able to get as close as one the rest of the way as Gaier slammed home her fifth kill of the match to seal the 25-23 win for South
Set 2 – South Alabama 25, UAB 18
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KEY MOMENT: UAB looked as if it had tied the set up (17-17) when an attack by Gooch was initially ruled out, but after a challenge the call was reversed giving South a two-point advantage and spur on a 5-0 Jaguar run
• Neither team able to grab more than a two-point advantage for most of the set, but a pivotal moment came with South Alabama holding a one-point lead at 17-16
• Gooch's reversed kill was big as it ignited a run of five unanswered points by the Jags
• Cerny followed the put away with back-to-back service aces, and Gooch recorded another kill before a Blazer attack error extended the Jaguar lead to six (22-16)
• Strandberg later clinched the 25-18 set win with her sixth kill of the match
• Gooch (5), Strandberg (4) and Blackwell (3) combined to record 12 of South's 13 kills in the set
• There were 11 ties and seven lead changes in the set
• South's defense held UAB to a .036 hitting percentage as it forced seven attack errors and recorded six block assists
Set 3 – UAB 25, South Alabama 17
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KEY MOMENT: Reese kill ignited a four-point spurt to turn a one-point advantage for the Blazers into a five-point lead midway through the set
• South led by one early on until UAB reeled off four-straight points, two coming after a kill and an ace by Vaughn
• After two Jaguar points, Meister recorded three more for the Blazers with a pair of kills and a block assist to extend their lead to 10-6
• Over the next several points, South Alabama was able to trim the deficit to one, narrowing the UAB lead to 12-11 after a kill by Gooch, but that was as close as the Jags were able to get
• UAB answered with four-straight points to stretch its lead back out to five (16-11) after a kill by Rachel McCollum
• After a kill by Gaier, the Blazers broke the set open with five more unanswered points and took its largest lead of the set (21-12) after an ace by McCollum
• Reese later sealed the 25-17 set win for UAB with her 10th kill of the match
Set 4 – South Alabama 25, UAB 22
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KEY MOMENT: UAB rallied back and was able to get as close as two late, but the Jags were able to hold them off and Strandberg sealed the fourth-set with a kill
• UAB jumped out to an early three-point lead (6-3) in the set, but South Alabama rattled off seven of the next eight points to take the lead for good
• Dittmer slammed home a kill and Gooch posted a solo block to cap off the run and give South the 10-7 advantage
• The Jags later led 15-10 at the media time out after a kill by Dittmar, her eighth of the match, and after a UAB point, South Alabama pushed across three-straight points to extend its lead to seven
• Strandberg began the scoring with a kill and after an ace by Gaier, the junior middle hitter teamed up with Gooch for a block (18-11)
• Over the next several points, the Blazers battled back and trimmed the deficit to as few as two on three different occasions, but each time, Blackwell and Dittmar came up big as the duo recorded kills and teamed up on a block
• Holding match point, Strandberg kill clinched the 25-22 win with her third kill of the frame
• Dittmar led South in the set with five kills
Post-Match Notes
• The meeting marked the 43rd in the all-time series
• The Jags are now 3-1 all-time in the series at the Alabama Showdown
• Ortiz is now just the second coach in program history to eclipse the 100-win mark
• Gaier posted two sets of four or more kills in the match and now has 15 this season and 71 for her career
• The double-double marked Gaier's fifth of the season and the eighth of her career
• Gaier has also recorded double-figure kill tallies in four of her last five matches, and eight times this fall
• The double-digit kill match marked the first for Gooch since posting 10 at Belmont (9/4)
• The 18 digs by Hurst gave the senior 600 for her Jaguar career
• Cerny now has seven double-doubles this season
• Strandberg has recorded double-figure kill tallies in three of her last five, and had three or more total blocks in six of her last seven
• Blackwell has had three or more total blocks eight of her 11 matches
• Dittmar has recorded six or more kills in each of her last six matches
Up Next
• South Alabama will take on Auburn on Saturday at Neville Arena. First serve versus the Tigers is set for 2 p.m.
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