CHICAGO, Ill. ? The South Alabama volleyball team opened play at the DePaul Invitational Friday night with a 3-0 (30-18, 30-20, 30-26) victory over Kennesaw State at McGrath Arena.
USA (3-1) will continue tournament action on Saturday with a pair of matches. The Jags will face Samford at 10 a.m. and then take on DePaul at 7:30 p.m. With the loss, the Owls fall to 2-7 on the season.
GAME ONE: South Alabama 30, Kennesaw State 18
South Alabama got off to a quick start to begin the match, taking six of the first seven points of game one. Juliana Pallamin de Almeida capped off the run with one of USA’s seven aces in the opener. The Jags kept up the pressure for the rest of the contest, only allowing Owls to get as close as five points. South Alabama closed the match strong, taking seven of the final eight points, two of which came on a pair of Lauren Robbins aces. In the opener, Almeida led the offensive attack with six kills, including one on the final point to give USA the 30-18 win.
GAME TWO: South Alabama 30, Kennesaw State 20
In the second game, it was KSU who controlled play early on, jumping out to a 7-3 lead. After making just four attack errors in game one, USA aided the Kennesaw spurt with four errors within the first 10 points. Sabrita Gulley later put the Owls up by five with two straight kills, but that is when the Jag began to claw back and mount their rally. Robbins gave South Alabama its first lead of the second game at 16-15 when the senior outside hitter recorded two consecutive kills of her own. After a KSU point, Robbins kept things going for the Jags and ignited 10-2 run. During the run, Robbins led the way, recording five kills. With the 30-20 game two victory, USA took a 2-0 lead in the match.
GAME THREE: South Alabama 30, Kennesaw State 26
With the score tied 3-3 early on in the third game of the day, Kennesaw State reeled off five unanswered points to take the lead. The scoring spurt was capped off by a block assist from Ginny Frederick and Jasmine Ruiz. Like in game two, South Alabama did not quit and kept battling back. Maria Kashavelova knotted the contest back up at 17-all with a service ace, one of USA’s 10 on the night. Following Kashavelova’s ace, USA re-took the lead for good after a KSU attack error and a Jenna Swilley kill. Leading by one at 20-19, South Alabama pushed across four the next five points to expand its lead out to four. Taylor Irvin, one of two players of the Jag roster from Illinois, sealed the 30-26 victory for South Alabama when she slammed down a kill of her own.
Almeida and Robbins led the way offensively for USA, finishing the match with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Both Jag hitters also recorded outstanding hitting percentages against the Owls, each finishing above .400. The 14 kills by Almeida also tied a season-best for the Jag frosh. As a team, South Alabama out hit KSU .318 to .118 and in what was a key stat of the match, USA won the dig category 39-22. Also recording strong performances for South Alabama were Kashavelova with 48 assists and Shannon VanAntwerp with 14 digs. Kennesaw was led offensively by Gulley’s 10 kills.
