University of South Alabama Athletics

AUBURN, Ala. | South Alabama battled hard but Auburn was able to outlast the Jaguars Saturday and take the 3-1 victory (25-23, 20-25, 25-22, 25-13) at the Alabama Showdown, hosted by the Tigers at Neville Arena.

Cambria Gaier led South Alabama (5-7) with 13 kills, while she also finished with eight digs and three total blocks, including a pair of solo blocks. Dalayla Blackwell also posted 11 kills and ended the match with a .500 hitting percentage as she committed just one attack error in her 20 attempts. The senior nearly recorded a double-double as she led the club with nine block assists.

Anabelle Cerny dished out 37 assists, two service aces, and led the club with 13 digs, while also carding a season-best six block assists in the loss.

Auburn (10-2) placed four players in double figures offensively, led by Belle Patrick's 15 kills. Grace Havlicek (14), Kate Mansfield (13) and Anastasija (12) also recorded double-digit kill tallies for the Tigers.

Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the match: "I thought we came out in this match determined and strong. I liked a lot of what we did. We lost some points on some broken plays and it took us a second to get up to the speed of Auburn's attack and get our blocks up. I'm really pleased with how we played today. There aren't any participation trophies and we really wanted to get the 'W, but I feel we're progressing as a team."

How It Happened 
Set 1 – Auburn 25, South Alabama 23
•    KEY MOMENT: With the opening set tied late, Patrick sparked a run of four unanswered points with two of her six kills in the set to give the Tigers the lead for good
•    Neither team able to garner more than a two-point advantage for a majority of the set
•    Auburn led 16-14 after a kill by Havelicek, but Cerny ignited a 4-0 Jaguar run
•    Eva Dittmar and Blackwell tied the set up one point later on a block assist and Cerny then dropped in an ace to give South the lead
•    Later with the set tied 19-19, the Tigers retook the lead (23-19) after kills by Ivkovic, Patrick (2), Havelicek
•    Dittmar slammed home back-to-back kills and after a Tiger point, South was able to fight off a pair of set points following a kill by Gaier and block assists by Cerny and Alexa Strandbrerg cut the deficit to 24-23
•    Coming out of a time out though, Auburn was able to take the set, 25-23, after a Jaguar attack error
•    Dittmar led the Jags with four kills, while Gaier and Blackwell had three each
•    There were 11 ties and six lead changes in the set

Set 2 – South Alabama 25, Auburn 20
•    KEY MOMENT: Trailing by two late in the set, South Alabama reeled off nine unanswered points to retake the lead en route to evening the match at a set a piece
•    Gaier sparked a 6-1 run by the Jaguars to open the second set as the sophomore recorded three kills
•    With the Jaguars holding a 12-6 advantage after a kill by Blackwell, Greer Chambliss ignited a 5-0 Tiger run with a kill, and Havlicek and Ivkovic teamed up on a block to narrow the South Alabama lead to one (12-11)
•    Auburn kept chipping away and tied the set up (14-14) four points later after a kill by Ivkovic and an ace by Macie McAmis, and then took the lead one point later on a kill by Mansfield
•    Trailing by two (17-15) and spurred on by its defense, South Alabama used a 9-0 run to retake the lead for good
•    After a Tiger serving error and an attack error, Cerny and Blackwell posted back-to-back block assists to give the Jags the lead for good (19-17)
•    South later capped off the run with an ace by Elyse Heffner, and a solo block and a kill by Sarah Gooch to put the Jaguars up 23-17
•    Auburn later committed its sixth serving error of the match to give the Jags the 25-20 set win to even the match at a set apiece
•    Cerny and Blackwell block assists posted three block assists in the set, helping force the Tigers into 11 attack errors and holding them to a .000 attack percentage

Set 3 – Auburn 25, South Alabama 22
•    KEY MOMENT: South Alabama was able to pull within one late in the frame, but Auburn recorded the final three points to take the set
•    South Alabama held a one-point lead early, but the Tigers pushed across six of the next seven points to take a 9-5 lead
•    The Jags trailed 14-10, but Gaier posted back-to-back kills to ignite a 5-1 run, and Blackwell later teamed up with Cerny and Delaney Lawson on a block to cap off the run and tie the set up (15-15)
•    Auburn was able to retake the lead (18-16) four points later after a kill and a block assist by Havlicek
•    South Alabama was able to pull within one on four occasions down the stretch, but with AU holding a 22-21 lead, Havlicek began a 3-0 run for the Tigers to end the set and Ivkovic followed with back-to-back put aways to clinch the 25-22 win
•    The Tigers recorded 19 kills and posted a .326 attack percentage in the set

Set 4 – Auburn 25, South Alabama 13
•    KEY MOMENT: With the fourth set tied, Auburn used a 7-1 run to take the lead for good
•    Tied 9-9, Ivkovic and Havlicek teamed up on a block to start a scoring spurt in which the Tigers captured seven of the next eight points
•    Havlicek added two more kills during the run and gave AU a 15-10 lead at the media time out with an ace
•    Auburn eventually led by figures (21-11) after a kill by Patrick and an ace by McAmis, her third of the match
•    The Tigers posted their best hitting percentage of the match in the final frame as it committed just two errors and had a .414 attack percentage

Post-Match Notes
•    The meeting marked the 40th in the all-time series, and the Tigers have now won have won 13 of the last 14, including 11 straight
•    The double-double marked the eighth of the season for Cerny, and the freshman has had nine or more digs in 10 of her 12 matches this season
•    Gaier has recorded double-digit kill totals in five of her last six, and nine matches this fall
•    Blackwell has had three or more total blocks nine of her 12 matches
•    Blackwell has hit .357 or better in five of her last seven, and recorded double-digit kill tallies in three of her last six
•    The 11 digs by Kathryn O'Toole also marked a season-best for the freshman

Up Next
•    South Alabama will travel to Harrisonburg, Va., to open up Sun Belt Conference play with a two-match series against James Madison. First serve of the series opener versus the Dukes is set for 5 p.m. (CT) on Friday.

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