09/20/05–
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FILIPE AND SANDERS LEAD USA TO 3-2 VICTORY
OVER SAMFORD
CONTACT:
Kevin Beasley
Box
Score
BIRMINGHAM,
Ala. – Behind
a pair of 20 kill performances from Via Filipe and Whitney Sanders,
the South Alabama volleyball team captured a 3-2 victory Tuesday
night over in-state rival Samford at Seifert Hall.
"I think tonight's
match will really come back and help us later on in the season,"
said South Alabama head coach Nicole Keshock. "This match had
every type of situation in it that we try to prepare for in practice.
We had to fight back in the first two games to get the wins after
trailing and then came out and dropped the next two. In the fifth
game we just took total control of it. We can really build off this
win."
Samford (3-9)
came out of the gates and reeled off four quick points to start
the match. USA (6-7) began to chip away at the Bulldog advantage
and eventually cut it to one (9-8) after a Samford error. The host
'Dogs however pushed the lead back out to four with three straight
points. After getting down by as many as five on two occasions,
the Lady Jags battled back once again and captured their first lead
of the opener at 22-21 on a Bulldog attack error. Neither team was
able to push the margin out to more than two the rest of the way,
until with the Jags trailing 33-32, Filipe and Jenna Swilley put
South Alabama over the top with three straight points for the 35-33
victory. Filipe tied the match with her eighth kill of the game
and Swilley finished it with back-to-back points of her own.
In the second game of
the match, both teams came out and kept it close early. With the
game tied at 10, Samford reeled off five of the next six points
to take a 15-11 lead on a solo block by Angela Dempski. USA continued
to fight back and tied the contest at 20-20 on a block assist by
Swilley and Brittany Blackwelder. USA and Samford went back-and-forth
throughout the rest of the match exchanging the lead and pushing
the game into extra points, until with the contest tied at 31-all,
Shannon VanAntwerp sealed the Jag victory with back-to-back kills
to give USA the 33-31 advantage and a 2-0 match lead..
The third game was a
tight contest until the midway point. Tied at 17-17, the Bulldogs
opened up a four point cushion to take at 21-17 lead. South Alabama
once again continued to fight back and eventually tied the contest
back up at 25-25 after back-to-back Bulldog attack errors. Samford
however settled down two points later and closed out the game with
four unanswered points highlighted by back-to-back kills from Kirstein
Sosnowski. Jackie Jaszcz gave the 'Dogs the 30-26 victory with her
first service ace of the night.
South Alabama started
the fourth game out with a 5-0 spurt in en route to an early 10-3
advantage. The Bulldogs did not lie down though and responded with
a run of their own (12-4) to grab the lead 15-13. Samford stretched
the lead out to five, before the Jags clawed their way back to tie
the contest up at 26-26 on a Blackwelder kill. The Bulldogs however
took four of the final five points to even the match 2-2 with the
30-27 victory.
In the match finale,
Samford took a 1-0 lead at the start, but that was the last lead
for the Bulldogs on the night as the Jags used a 10-2 run to take
control of the match. The USA run was highlighted by back-to-back-to-back
kills from Whitney Sanders. Samford got as close as 13-8 the rest
of the game, but Filipe sealed the deal with back-to-back kills
of her own to give USA the 15-8 win.
Filipe and Sanders paced
South Alabama offensively with 24 and 23 kills, respectively, both
career-highs for both Jags. VanAntwerp recorded her 10th double
digit dig game of the season and second double-double of the year
with 13 kills and a match-high 20 digs. USA’s Katie Wilhelm
etched her name into the Jaguar record books as she set the five-game
mark for assists with 76 on the night. The total also goes down
as second-most in Jag history in any match.
The Bulldogs received
a match-high 25 kills from freshman Sara Sears.
South Alabama
will return to action Friday when the Lady Jags open Sun Belt Conference
play versus Troy at 7 p.m. at Jag Gym.
USA
- 35 33 26 27 15 - 3
SAM -
33 31 30 30 8 - 2
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