Saturday, October 9
JAGS DEFEAT TROY IN STRAIGHT SETS
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team defeated Troy in straight sets (27-25, 25-20, 25-16) Saturday at Jag Gym.
USA (10-8, 1-4 SBC) earned its first conference win of the season and snapped a five-game losing skid with the victory. Nikki Gittens led the Jaguar attack with 11 kills and a .500 hitting percentage, while Iva Durdanovic finished with eight kills, 12 digs and three of the Jags' eight service aces in the match. Kristina Alabastro finished with seven kills and a .556 hitting percentage. Ashlyn Roberts finished with a team-high 17 assists, while Kellyn Reeves added 15 assists.
The Jaguars opened the match with a 27-25 win in set one. Troy (6-15, 0-5 SBC) built a three-point lead late in the set for a 22-19 advantage, and forced a set point at 24-23 on a kill by Symone Shaw. But USA answered with a kill by Gittens to tie the score 24-24, and took a one-point lead on a service ace by Arissa Chappell for a 25-24 advantage. Troy responded with a kill by Sara Landis, following a Trojan timeout, to tie the score 25-25. But the Jags scored the final two points of the set on a Troy attack error and set-clinching kill by Alabastro.
South Alabama took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-20 win in set two. The Trojans built a 4-1 lead early in the set, but the Jaguars answered with five straight points, highlighted by a pair of service aces by Durdanovic and kills by Gittens, Mechell Daniel and Kelley Hartman, to take a 6-4 lead. Later in the set, USA built a seven-point lead at 23-16 following four consecutive points, highlighted by kills from Durdanovic and Alabastro. A kill by Alabstro gave the Jags set point at 24-17, but Troy answered with three straight points to cut the Jag lead to 24-20. Gittens followed with a kill to clinch the set for South Alabama.
USA took set three 25-15 to clinch the match. The Jags doubled their lead to 12-6 midway through the match following a three-point rally that featured kills by Alabastro and Gittens. The Trojans cut the Jaguar lead to one point, 14-13, after scoring four straight points. USA responded with three consecutive points, highlighted by kills from Richardson and Daniel, to take a 17-13 lead. South Alabama went on to score the final six points of the set, which featured a kill by Gittens and four Trojan attack errors, to clinch the set and match.
"It feels good to get the win. I am proud of our team," USA head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. "We really focused this week on getting back to our type of volleyball. I think they had a lot of fun today, and it was fun to watch. That's what we wanted to see. We played with passion, and I think the execution comes when you play with that. We mixed some people up on the court based on this week's performance, and the luxury of our team is we're able to do that. We compete every week in practice, and as a program we were really competitive the last two days of practice and that made us better."
USA will return to action Fri., Oct. 14, when it hosts Georgia State in a Sun Belt Conference contest at 6:30 p.m. at Jag Gym.
Panthers Outlast Mountaineers for Third Consecutive Victory
ATLANTA – Georgia State and Appalachian State went the full distance of five sets on Saturday night. GSU took the final set by a final of 15-10 to close out the match with scores of 25-21, 20-25, 19-25, 25-19 and 15-10.
Head coach Sally Polhamus and the Panthers improve to 7-10 overall and 3-3 in Sun Belt conference play.
Sophomore OH Crystal Lee paced the Panther attack with 16 kills. Seniors Eliza Zachary and Kristina Stinson supplemented the offense with 25 combined kills. With her 13 kills, Zachary surpassed 1,000 kills for her career.
Sarah Renner added 45 assists on the evening and Anna Rantala totaled 16 digs as well as four service aces. Celeste Friesen and Renner earned 11 digs apiece.
The Mountaineers were led by freshman OH Emma Longley, who registered a match-high 18 kills to go along with her 15 digs. Alana Shoff powered 12 kills past the Panthers and setter Amanda Krahl dished out 51 assists. Freshman Kennedy Wilson finished the night with a match-high 20 digs.
GSU got off to another fast start as Zachary led the charge with four kills in the opening frame. The Panthers came back from being 2-1 down to earn a huge 25-19 win in the fourth behind Stinson’s four kills and Rantala’s five digs. Crystal Lee helped finish off App State with offensive assistance from Shae Chapman and Zachary.
Zachary sealed the win for the Panthers with her 13th kill on Renner’s 45th assist. GSU will look to build on momentum from Saturday night’s victory as the team prepares for a two-match road trip at South Alabama and Troy.
Ragin' Cajuns Capture Five-Set Thriller From Warhawks
LAFAYETTE – Stacey Reilly furnished 21 kills, leading a quartet of Ragin' Cajuns in double digit kills, as Louisiana defeated ULM in a five-set thriller (21-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-27, 15-13) to move to 2-0 on its current four-match homestand and return above the .500 mark in Sun Belt Conference play.
After dropping the opening set, the Ragin' Cajuns (7-13, 3-2 Sun Belt) landed 32 kills and hit above .360 over the second and third sets to claim a 2-1 match lead. Louisiana committed 13 attack errors in the fourth set, opening the door for ULM (8-15, 2-3 Sun Belt) to extend the match to five sets.
Louisiana erased a 6-3 deficit in the fifth frame with a 4-0 run that started with a Chloe Cordell kill and was capped by forcing the Warhawks to hit into three consecutive attack errors.
Neither team led by more than a point and seven ties existed before the match came to a close.
The Ragin' Cajuns pulled out of their final deficit with a kill by Chanelle Gardner and block solo from Hanna Rovira that opened a 12-11 lead. Gardner, who finished with 14 kills, came up with another kill after a 12-all tie to keep the momentum on Louisiana's side. After ULM drew a 13-all tie, back-to-back attack errors by the visitors brought the match to an end.
Cordell (14 kills) and Chynna Brooks (10 kills) provided a boost off the bench. Cordell's tally was a season-high figure, while Brooks established a new career-high total.
Sydney Davis scooped a match-high 26 digs, finishing with 20-plus in a Sun Belt match for the third time in five outings. Davis increased her season total to 325 digs, eclipsing the 300-mark for the second straight season.
Jessica Bartczyszyn added a career-high 19 digs to the 51 assists she handed out. Reilly collected 11 digs to land her team-leading 12th double-double of the season.
The Ragin' Cajuns held a 67-57 edge in kills and outdug the Warhawks 84-72. Louisiana threw up 11 total blocks of which six were solos led by three block solos from Gardner.
Louisiana and ULM played a five-set match for the fourth straight meeting. The Ragin' Cajuns won a five-set affair for the second straight match (won in five at Little Rock on Sept. 30).
The Ragin' Cajuns improved to 17-4 vs. ULM in Sun Belt Conference matches (2006-present). The two squads have a rematch scheduled for Nov. 8 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe.
The Ragin' Cajuns conclude their four-match homestand next weekend hosting Arkansas State on Friday (Oct. 14) and Little Rock on Sunday (Oct. 16).
@stAteVolleyball Sweeps UT Arlington
ARLINGTON, Texas (10/8/16) – The Arkansas State volleyball team bounced back from its first conference loss of the season in a big way Saturday night with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-22) sweep of UT Arlington at the College Park Center in Arlington.
Kelsey Reis led A-State’s offensive onslaught with 14 kills on a .667 hitting percentage as the Red Wolves (13-7, 5-1 SBC) hit .284 as a team to .169 for the Mavericks (10-11, 4-2 SBC). Kenzie Fields posted 13 kills and 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the year, while Carlisa May added 12 scores on a .385 attacking percentage. Mallory Warrington handed out 47 assists for an astounding 15.67 per set ratio, while Markie Schaedig led the defense with 20 digs. Reis led the team with six blocks as A-State had eight blocks to just two by UT Arlington.
“We talked to the team about how do we respond after Friday night’s loss,” A-State head volleyball coach David Rehr said. “You can either start making excuses, pointing fingers, those kinds of thing or you can rally around each other, support each other, and make sure we get back on the right track. We chose the latter and it showed in a big way tonight. I’m proud of this team because we haven’t had to face adversity in a while, especially in conference play, and we handled it well.”
The Red Wolves put the pressure on early by jumping out to a 4-0 edge in set one before UTA came back to go in front 14-13. A-State responded with a 4-0 run to force a timeout by the Mavericks. The home team never could quite get back in it as they fell behind 23-18 and called for another stoppage. However, Arkansas State won the next point on a block by Fields and Reis. UT Arlington scored the next point, but a kill by Fields gave A-State a 25-19 set one victory.
The second set began strongly for Arkansas State as the team took an 8-4 advantage on a block by Reis and Warrington and saw the Mavericks use a timeout. The stoppage didn’t slow A-State down much at all as the team went ahead 17-10 on a service ace by Lindsay Cline and were ahead 21-14 on a kill by Reis that forced UTA to use its second timeout of the set. UT Arlington got within 24-19, but a May kill concluded the set for the Red Wolves with their second straight 25-19 triumph.
A-State started the third set much like the other two by racing out to a 7-3 edge on a Reis kill. However, UT Arlington responded to eventually take the lead at 17-16, but the visitors went on a 5-1 run, capped by an Anna Murphy kill, to push ahead 21-18 and force UTA to take a timeout. A-State won two of the next three points to force another stoppage by the home team. UT Arlington battled back to within two at 24-22, but another kill by Murphy clinched the set for A-State 25-22 and 3-0 win.
Arkansas State hits the road again in its upcoming slate of matches next weekend. A-State will travel to Louisiana to face Louisiana-Lafayette at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14 before going to Monroe for a Sunday, Oct. 16 match against ULM with first serve set for 12 p.m. against the Warhawks.
Texas State cruises to 3-0 win over Little Rock
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team took down Little Rock 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-19) Saturday night inside Strahan Coliseum.
The Bobcats (12-9, 5-1 SBC) closed out their four-match homestand by winning their last three outings. The Trojans dropped to 6-13 overall and 2-4 in league play.
Senior Kelsey Weynand led TXST with a match-high 13 kills and eight digs. Fellow senior Lauren Kirch tallied 11 kills and four blocks, while posting career highs in attack percentage (.600) and service aces (4). Junior Erin Hoppe dished out 37 assists, and freshman Micah Dinwiddie registered a match-high 18 digs.
The Bobcats jumped on top 6-0 in the first set led by quality serving from freshman Mattie Adams. Little Rock got on the board with a kill from Carolee Dillard, but the visitors quickly found themselves in a 16-4 hole. LR was able to crawl back and get within seven at 21-14, but Texas State closed strong and won the opener 25-16.
The second set was all Bobcats, as the maroon and gold powered ahead 10-4 and never looked back. They went into the break with a 2-0 advantage following a dominant 25-12 triumph in the set.
Texas State again powered to an early lead in the final set, this time a 7-3 advantage. The home team kept the momentum and went on top 19-11 before holding on for the 25-19 victory.
The Bobcats never hit less than .300 in any of the three sets and finished with a .312 hitting percentage. That mark was the second-highest of the season. The visitors hit just .117. TXST also led in total kills (44-27), aces (7-1), digs (44-32) and assists (41-27).
Marina Avram led the Trojans with 11 digs and 10 kills. Taylor Lindberg had a team-best 14 assists.
Texas State will play just one match this upcoming week, and it will be on the road against UT Arlington. The Bobcats and Mavericks will compete at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in Arlington, Texas.