BOX SCORES
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The South Alabama women's volleyball team dropped its final match of the season with a 3-0 loss to Middle Tennessee Sunday afternoon at Alumni Memorial Gym.
The host Blue Raiders (26-3, 10-2 SBC) came out in the opener and quickly jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the match. The MT scoring run was capped off by block assists from Quanshell Scott and Andressa Lyra. The Lady Jags (9-18, 2-11 SBC) were able to get as close as eight on block assists from Whitney Sanders and Jade Nuss before the Lady Raiders stretched the lead back out to their largest of game one at 27-12. Middle Tennessee went on to take the opener 30-17 and a 1-0 match lead. The Blue Raiders out hitting USA .379 to .000 in the opener.
USA came out in the second game and took an early 3-1 lead. Middle Tennessee however responded to the Jaguar spurt with six unanswered points of its own to take the lead at 7-3 on another pair of block assists by Scott and Megan Sumrell. South Alabama kept fighting and eventually cut the deficit to one at 21-20 on a Jenna Swilley kill. After exchanging the next few points, the Lady Raiders pushed the margin back out to four (26-22) on a Sumrell service ace. The Jags would not rollover and continued to claw their way back and tied the game at 27-27 on a Summer Pilgrim kill. One point later, South Alabama retook the lead courtesy of a MTSU miscue. The two clubs exchanged the next couple of points before Middle Tennessee pushed the final three points of the game to take it 31-29 and a 2-0 match advantage.
In the finale, Middle Tennessee broke an early 9-9 tie with another big run, this time a 9-1 spurt that was capped off by a Megan Carter ace. The Jags kept fighting again and cut the margin to three on another Swilley kill. The Lady Raiders stretched the lead back out to eight (25-17) and went on to take game three 30-22.
South Alabama was paced by Sanders' 14 kills. The Jag sophomore also recorded a team-high seven digs on the afternoon. Via Filipe also recorded double figures in kills, finishing with 11. Middle Tennessee received a match-high 15 kills from Scott, while two others also recorded double digits in that category; Ashley Adams (11) and Lyra (10).
The nine wins by the Lady Jags this season triple their win total from a season ago and are the most since the 2001 season.
