NASHVILLE |
Eva Dittmar recorded a career-high 17 kills, nine of which came over the final two sets, as South Alabama rallied back to pick up a 3-2 (25-18, 20-25, 16-25, 26-24, 15-13) road win over Belmont Friday night at the Belmont Invitational presented by Hyatt Place Green Hills and hosted by the Bruins at the Curb Event Center.
Dittmar was one of five Jags (2-2) to end the night in double figures and posted a .371 attack percentage.
Cambria Gaier was close behind with 14 kills of her own and nearly recorded a double-double as she had nine digs to go along with three service aces and three total blocks – two solo and three assists.
Alexa Strandberg had 11 kills in the win, and
Sarah Gooch and
Dalayla Blackwell each had 10 kills apiece. Blackwell also led the team with five total blocks – two solo and three assists.
Anabelle Cerny posted her third double-double of the season with 55 assists and 16 assists, while the freshman setter also added a career-best four aces and two blocks.
Along with Cerny,
Marissa Taix also registered a career-high 16 digs and
Addison Hurst led the team with 17.
Belmont (1-3) was led offensively by Brenna Kauffeld's 15 kills, while Connie Kofoed added 12 kills and 15 digs. Mya Bolton led all players with 24 digs.
Quotable – head coach Jesse Ortiz
- On the win: "I'm really excited about our win tonight. Belmont is a really strong team and after scouting them, I believe they will do very well this season in the Missouri Valley. Tonight was a total team effort. With a young group, you have some ups and downs. We're just trying to level that out right now. It's nice watching them continuing working at getting better and being resilient. I believe we tested ourselves tonight, and we got a little bit smarter and a little bit better."
How It Happened
Set 1 – South Alabama 25, Belmont 18
•
KEY MOMENT: Gaier and Blackwell set the tone for the Jaguars early in the opening set as they recorded four of South's first five points
• Gaier gave the Jags an 8-3 lead with back-to-back kills in the first set, and later put South Alabama up by six (11-5) after an ace
• South Alabama later led by eight (15-7) at the media time out after an ace by Cerny, South's second of the set, and extended to nine when Gooch recorded a solo block coming out of the media time out
• Belmont was unable to gain any momentum as Gaier again slammed home a kill and dropped in an ace (19-12)
• Down the stretch, Gooch took over, recording three of her four kills over South's final four points, while Dittmar sealed the 25-18 win with her third kill of the frame
• Gaier led all players with seven kills and a pair of aces in the opening set, while the Jaguars posted a .361 hitting percentage and 18 kills
Set 2 – Belmont 25, South Alabama 20
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KEY MOMENT: With South Alabama holding a 16-15 lead, Belmont pushed across five of the next six points to take the lead for good
• Holding a 1-0 lead in the match, South grabbed the early lead with a 5-1 run to begin the frame
• Cerny dropped in her second ace of the night to ignite the scoring and Blackwell capped it off with a kill
• Belmont later used a 4-0 run to take its first lead (9-8) of the set after Erin McMullen's two kills and a solo block
• Tied 10-10, South pushed across four of the next five points to take a 14-11 lead, but the Bruins rallied back again to tie the set and then retake the lead after a pair of kills by Kauffeld, a kill by Kofoed and a solo block by Alexia Smollen
• Coming out of the media time out, Gaier slammed home her ninth kill of the match to tie it back up at 15 and a Belmont attack error then gave the Jags a 16-15 advantage
• Belmont took advantage of a South service error on the next point and Kauffeld then recorded a kill on the next point to give the Bruins the lead (17-16) before a block assist by McMullen and Kauffeld,
• The Bruins later took the set, 25-20 to even the match
• Belmont posted a .355 hitting percentage in the set and 16 kills, while also recording two solo blocks and six block assists
• Kofoed, Kauffed and McMullen each had four kills in the set for BU, while Gooch, Gaier and Strandberg had three apiece for South Alabama
• The Bruins had 16 kills in the set and finished with a .355 hitting percentage
Set 3 – Belmont 25, South Alabama 16
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KEY MOMENT: Riding the momentum evening the match, Belmont opened the third set with a 5-1 run and never looked back
• Belmont took nine of first 11 points to open the third set, two kills by Kauffeld and aided by four attack errors
• South Alabama got as close as five (11-6) after a kill by Strandberg and an ace by
Elyse Heffner, but the Bruins took six of the next nine points to extend lead back out to eight (17-8)
• Belmont later grabbed its largest lead at nine (20-11), but the Jaguars attempted to rally back, rattling off five of the next seven points
• Cerny began the run with a solo block by Cerny and Gaier followed with a kill
• Dittmar and Blackwell later capped off the run and trimmed the deficit to six (22-16) with a block assist
• The Bruins though picked up the final three points to take the set
• Belmont committed just four attack errors in the set, and registered a .308 hitting percentage in the third set
• The Bruins used a balanced offensive attack in the set as five players had multiple kills
Set 4 – South Alabama 26, Belmont 24
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KEY MOMENT: Belmont held match point at 24-21, but Gooch ignited a 5-0 run to close the set and rally the Jags back to even the match at a set apiece
• Dittmar recorded four kills early on in the set and helped South Alabama jump out to an 8-3 advantage
• The Jags doubled their lead (12-6) with three-straight points on a kill by Strandberg, a Heffner ace and a kill by Blackwell
• Belmont answered by taking seven of the next eight points to tie the set back up (13-13) after a kill by Kofoed and force a Jaguar timeout
• Kauffeld then kept the 9-1 run going with her fourth kill of the scoring spurt and Kofoed followed with a kill of her own to give BU a 15-13 advantage at the media time out
• Dittmar slammed home another kill and the Jags tied the set back up a point later after an attack error and then retook the lead on a solo block by Gaier (16-15)
• Belmont answered with a 4-0 run began by a kill by a kill from Kauffeld, and followed by a pair of South Alabama attack errors and a service ace from Mya Bolton (19-16)
• Over the next several points, South was able to get as close as one on a couple of occasions, but holding match point at 24-21, the Jags began to mount their comeback as they fought off three-straight match points
• Gooch slammed home back-to-back kills, her eighth and ninth of the night, and Cerny then tied the set up (24-24)
• Dittmar put South up 25-24 with her fifth kill of the set and after a time out, Blackwell clinched the win with a kill of her own
• Dittmar had five kills on nine attacks in the set for a .556 attack percentage
• Kauffeld also had five kills in the set for the Bruins
Set 5 – South Alabama 15, Belmont 13
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KEY MOMENT: Strandberg turned back an attack by Kauffeld to record a solo block, her only of the night, and clinch the match win for the Jaguars
• Led by Dittmar, South Alabama grabbed the first three points of the fifth set and led 4-1 after a kill by Blackwell
• Belmont rallied back and tied the set up (6-6) after a kill by Emily Warmenhoven, and took its first lead of the frame (8-7) three points later after another kill by the Warmenhoven
• The Bruins led 9-7 after block assist by Alivia Keegan and Smollen, but South Alabama took advantage of a Bruin service error and attack error, and then retook the lead one point later on Cerny's fourth ace of the match
• Tied 13-13, the Jags were able to grab the final two points of the match after a bad set and Strandberg's block, South Alabama's third solo block of the set
• For the second-straight set, Dittmar didn't commit an attack error as she had four more kills on five attempts (.800)
Post-Match Notes
• The meeting marked the third in the all-time series and the first since 2015
• With her 10 kills, Blackwell now has 350 for her career
• Hurst eclipsed the 500-dig mark for her Jaguar career and now has 502
• Gaier's seven kills in the opening set marked a season-high for an individual set by the sophomore and was her 61st time at South in which she has had four or more in a set
• Three of her four sets with four or more kills this season have come in the first set
• Cerny has now recorded a double-double in three of the Jags' four matches this fall
• Blackwell has led South Alabama in blocks in all four matches this season
• The seven solo blocks are tied for eighth most in a match in program history and the most since doing so three times last season
• The last time South Alabama had five players with double-figure kill totals came vs. Southern Miss (9/6/16) – Iva Durdanovic (16), Mechell Daniel (14), Nikki Gittens (10), Kelley Hartman (10), Kristiana Alabastro (10)
Up Next
• South Alabama will continue play at the Belmont Invitational on Saturday when the Jaguars take on Middle Tennessee at 2 p.m.
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