Friday, October 14
Jags Defeat Panthers in Straight Sets
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team defeated Georgia State in straight sets (25-23, 25-19, 25-18) in a Sun Belt Conference match Friday at Jag Gym.
It marked the second straight win for USA (11-8, 2-4 SBC), and the second consecutive straight-sets win over an SBC opponent. The Jaguars recorded a .350 team hitting percentage in the match, led by Mechell Daniel who finished with a game-high 10 kills along with three digs and one block assist. Nikki Gittens added nine kills and hit .412 while also recording one dig and one block assist. Kristina Alabastro finished with eight kills, three digs and two block assists. Iva Durdanovic added seven kills, nine digs and one block assist. Ashlyn Roberts and Kellyn Reeves finished with 18 assists apiece.
The Jaguars took the opening set of the match 25-23. GSU (7-11, 3-4 SBC) tied the score 23-23 on a Jaguar attack error. Following a USA timeout, the Jags forced set point on a kill by Daniel, and clinched the set on a Panther attack error.
South Alabama took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-19 win in set two. The Jaguars held a two-point lead, 16-14, midway through the set before reeling off four straight points, highlighted by kills by Roberts and Gittens, for a 20-14 advantage. A kill by Kelley Hartman later in the set gave USA set point at 24-19, and a kill by Daniel clinched the set for South Alabama.
The Jaguars won the match with a 25-18 win in set three. With the score tied at 13, USA scored four straight points on a pair of GSU attack errors and kills by Alabastro and Daniel to take a 17-13 lead. The Panthers cut the Jaguar lead to three points, 19-16, late in the set, but South Alabama scored four consecutive points on a pair of kills by Durdanovic, and one kill each from Alabastro and Gittens, to take a 23-16 lead. Kills by Gittens gave the Jaguars set and match point.
"Georgia State played really well the last time we played them," USA head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. "We really focused on some things the last two weeks, and it was nice to see our team get back to the way we were playing. I thought we executed well and played well. The only part of our game that wasn't good was serving, but we were aggressive; I like that we were able to maintain and still be aggressive even though we were making errors. But attack-wise, defensively and blocking-wise, I thought we played a much better, complete and disciplined game than we did the last time we played them."
Kristina Stinson led the Panthers will nine kills, while Crystal Lee finished with eight kills and five digs.
South Alabama will return to action Saturday when it hosts Georgia Southern at 6:30 p.m. in a SBC contest at Jag Gym.
Coastal Wins Fourth Straight at App State
BOONE, N.C. - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team won its fourth straight match -- including each of the last three in straight sets -- with a three-set sweep of Appalachian State Friday evening (25-17, 25-11, 25-14).
The Chanticleers (14-4, 5-1) and Mountaineers (2-17, 0-6) face each other once again on Sunday in Conway for a 2 p.m. match at the HTC Center.
Coastal was dominant throughout the match as the attack put down 50 kills with a .575 hitting percentage while defensively recording 28 digs and 10 team blocks.
Leah Hardeman and Tahleia Bishop led the Chants with 12 and 10 kills, respectively, with the former hitting .476 and the latter .412. Natasa Savovic, seeing action for the first time since suffering an injury on Sept. 23, put down nine kills on nine attempts with no errors for a perfect hitting percentage.
Coastal's setting duo of Sara Boothe and Kate Federico each dished out 20 assists, while Hardeman, Dora Lulic and Annayka Legros posted four blocks apiece.
The Chants never trailed during the match, and App State managed to even the score just once in the first and second sets.
Savovic put down five of her nine kills in the opening set, and Hardeman added four of her own as the Chants hit .586 to open the match.
The eight point lead that Coastal closed the opening set with was nearly doubled in the second set as the Chants hit .611 en route to a 14-point set win. Bishop led the Chants with five kills in the middle frame while Hardeman once again put down four. Savovic, Lulic, Hardeman and Legros also provided a pair of blocks each.
App State used its first timeout of the third set after Coastal jumped out to a quick 14-6 lead, but it did nothing to slow the Chants momentum as they followed with a 7-4 run to take a commanding 21-10 advantage before closing out the match.
Trojans Claim Five-Set Win Over ULM
MONROE, La. – In a nerve-racking five set match, Little Rock volleyball (7-13, 3-4 Sun Belt) earned the 3-2 win (26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 26-28, 15-7) over ULM (8-16, 2-4) on Friday night at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
The Trojans' victory extended their win streak over the Warhawks to 29 matches — a streak that extends all the way back to 1992.
"I was tickled to death to get the win on the road," head coach Van Compton said. "I didn't think we played as well as we could have, but we played better when we needed to in the fifth set."
Taylor Lindberg earned her second double-double of the year with 41 assists and 10 digs, and she nearly had the triple-double with nine kills and a career-high .643 hitting percentage.
"Taylor worked really hard on defense this week in practice, and that helped her," Compton said. "Along with good setting, she did a good job tonight."
Edina Selimovic led the Trojans with 14 kills, five blocks, three aces and nine digs. Miona Milovanovic had a season-high 12 kills and an ace. Marina Avram led the Trojans with 15 digs while tallying six kills, an ace and two blocks.
"I think Miona and Edina, stepped it up tonight," Compton noted. "Edina played outside in one rotation, and Miona served. Those are things they really aren't used to doing, but they stepped up, did it and helped us win. I'm really appreciative of that."
Knotted at 4-4 in the fifth set, Little Rock went on a 6-2 run to force a ULM timeout. The timeout didn't make a difference for the Warhawks as the Trojans concluded the match on a 5-1 run.
The fourth frame went down to the wire as the set went into extra points. ULM earned the set's first set point at 24-23 but a service error tied the set again at 24. Little Rock then earned match point with an ace by Selimovic, but ULM knotted it again with a kill. Still tied at 26, the Warhawks took the set with a kill and a block.
Little Rock got the third set started with a 3-0 run, but the tide turned as ULM grabbed the lead with a 6-0 run. The Warhawks kept up the momentum and eventually took an eight-point lead at 22-14. The Trojans managed to cut the Warhawk lead to two at 24-22, but ULM grabbed the set on a Little Rock attack error.
The Trojans came out of the starting blocks hot in the second set with a 7-1 lead, but the Warhawks fought back to bring the frame within one at 8-7. Little Rock matched its largest lead of the set at 23-17 on a ULM service error. From there, the Warhawks got no closer than two points as Little Rock took the set with a three-point win.
The match got underway with a tight set that went into extra points. Down 21-17, Little Rock clawed its way back into the set with a 5-1 run to tie the frame at 22. Still knotted at 23, Dillard put down a kill to give the Trojans set point, but ULM put down a kill of its own to once again tie the frame. From there, Little Rock cruised to a 26-24 win with two consecutive bad sets by ULM.
Carolee Dillard had eight kills and four blocks (three solo and one assisted) for the Trojans. Kelsey Leech scooped up 14 digs, and Sydnee Martin had 12 digs.
The Trojans put up 10 blocks, but they were outblocked for just the second time this season as ULM put up 11.
Little Rock will return to action in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Sunday as they take on the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana.
Eagles Pick up 3-2 Win at Troy
TROY, Ala. – Lauren Reichard and Katie Bange each tallied 13 kills, and Georgia Southern overcame a 2-0 deficit to top Troy 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-11) in Sun Belt volleyball action Friday night in Trojan Arena.
Bange added 20 assists and seven digs, and Reichard tallied eight blocks for Georgia Southern (11-9, 4-1), which won its fourth consecutive match. Cathrine Murray collected 12 kills and 19 digs, Megan Chevalier had 10 kills and three blocks and Stephanie Spencer recorded nine kills, 12 digs and five blocks.
Kendra Koetter tallied her fourth straight double-double with 17 assists and 21 digs, and Alex Beecher finished with 19 digs.
Logan Page had 13 kills, and Sara Landis posted 12 kills and three blocks for Troy (6-17, 0-6) in the back-and-forth affair that was decided by a grand total of 12 points.
The Eagles had not played a match since topping Troy 3-0 in Hanner Fieldhouse Oct. 1, as Hurricane Matthew forced the postponement of two Georgia Southern matches last week.
The story
The score was tied 11-11 in the fifth when the Eagles ran off the final four points of the match, including three during the serve of freshman Kelsey Meins. Reichard put down a kill for a sideout, Murray got a kill off a Troy overpass and Meins delivered an ace to make it match point. Troy was able to dig up the next serve but the attack attempt went out of bounds to give the Eagles the 3-2 victory.
With the score tied 21-21 in the fourth, Reichard and Spencer put down consecutive kills to put the Eagles ahead by two. Troy scored the next two points, but a Trojan service error gave GS set point. Bange scored a kill off a Koetter assist to push the match to a fifth set.
The score was tied 23-23 in the third when Troy was whistled for a ball-handling error to make it set point. GS brought in Meins to serve, and the freshman delivered with an ace to extend the match.
@stAteVolleyball Cruises in Sweep of Ragin’ Cajuns
LAFAYETTE, La. (10/14/16) – The Arkansas State volleyball team swept Louisiana-Lafayette 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-19) at the Earl K. Long Center as the team earned its 22nd conference win in its last 23 games.
The Red Wolves (14-7, 6-1 SBC) were led by Carlisa May’s 17 kills on a .389 hitting percentage, while Jessica Uke registered 11 kills and .667 hitting percentage. Kenzie Fields and Kelsey Reis tallied eight each, while Brentlee Weaver turned in seven kills on the night. Mallory Warrington posted her eighth double-double of the season with 47 assists and 11 digs. Markie Schaedig led the team with 14 digs defensively, while Lindsey Cline finished with eight digs.
“We played well tonight in a really tough place to play,” A-State head volleyball coach David Rehr said. “Louisiana-Lafayette came out with a lot of energy and challenged us early, but we stayed together as a team and worked through it. Carlisa had a great night, but it was also great to see Jessica play like she did. We need that play to continue as we move on to another tough road matchup on Sunday.”
A-State never led by more than five in the first set as the Ragin’ Cajuns (7-14, 3-3) kept things close through the set. An attack error by ULL’s Stacey Reilly gave the Red Wolves a 17-12 advantage, but it also sparked a rally from the home as they rallied off five of the next seven points to close with 19-17. May ended with rally with back-to-back kills to put A-State up 21-17 and then looked poised to take the set with after another back-to-back kill combination by May put her team up 23-19.
The Ragin’ Cajuns rallied again, however, and pulled with 23-23 that forced a timeout by the Arkansas State sideline. Weaver got things back on track with a kill out of the timeout and an attack error gave the Red Wolves game one at 25-22.
Louisiana-Lafayette led 5-2 early in the second set, but a rally by Arkansas State quickly gave them a 10-7 lead that forced a timeout by host team. The lead grew to 17-10 after the timeout and eventually 21-13 after a kill by Uke. A-State put the set away with a pair of kills by Fields for the 25-16 victory.
Coming out of the break Arkansas State wasted little time in building a 9-3 edge. After a timeout, the Ragin’ Cajuns closed to within 11-8, but continued would not be denied its sweep as the lead quickly grew to 17-11. Uke closed the match with the final kill of night on set point to give A-State its 10th straight set victory of the season.
Arkansas State continues league play Oct. 16 with a road contest versus Louisiana-Monroe. First serve from Monroe is set for Noon.