Tuesday, September 6
Jaguars Win in Five, Extends Winning Streak
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team defeated Southern Mississippi in five sets (28-26, 23-25, 25-17, 23-25, 15-7) Tuesday at Jag Gym.
USA (6-1) held a 3-2 lead early in the fifth set before a four-point rally, highlighted by kills from Kelley Hartman, Iva Durdanovic and Kristina Alabastro, pushed its advantage to 7-2. USM (6-2) cut its deficit to 7-3 on a kill by Stephany Purdue, who finished with a game-high 21 kills, but another four-point Jaguar rally that featured a service ace and kill by Durdanovic and kill by Mechell Daniel extended the USA advantage to 11-3. The Jaguars would go on to score the final three points of the match on a kill by Nikki Gittens and consecutive kills by Daniel.
"Southern Miss had some big wins last weekend, and I knew it would be two teams that would battle," USA head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. "Our team really wanted it, and you could see that in set five. We are playing well as a team, but I have been telling the team that we can't be satisfied; we always have to be pushing for that next match. We still have room to improve and we still have things we're working on, but right now we're playing confidently and together and it's fun."
Durdanovic recorded her team-leading third double-double after finishing with career high totals in kills (16) and digs (17) while also adding a block assist and two service aces. Daniel finished with 14 kills, four digs and one block assist, while Gittens added 10 kills, two block solos and three block assists. Hartman finished with a career-high 10 kills, along with two assists, one dig and three block assists. Alabastro tied a season high with 10 kills, and also had one dig and one block assist. Abby Baker finished with a season-high 21 digs along with five assists and one service ace. Kellyn Reeves recorded 27 assists and eight digs, while Ashlyn Roberts finished with 23 assists and three digs.
The Jaguars took a 1-0 lead in the match after a 28-26 win in set one. South Alabama opened up a six-point lead midway through a tightly-contested set for a 17-11 advantage following a pair of kills each by Hartman and Durdanovic. Southern Miss tied the score three different times facing set point, but kills by Alabastro and Daniel closed the set 28-26.
The Golden Eagles responded for a 25-23 win in set two to tie the match 1-1. USA held a 23-22 lead late in the set after a kill by Hartman. But USM went on to score the final three points of the set following a service error by Daniel, a kill by Chanel Joyce and attack error by Hartman.
South Alabama took a 2-1 advantage in the match with a 25-17 win in set three. The Jaguars used a seven-point run to take a 10-point lead in the set. USA held a 12-9 lead before a kill by Daniel kicked off the run. Arissa Chappell then delivered a service ace, followed by kills from Durdanovic and Hartman. Three straight USM attack errors pushed the USA lead to 19-9. The Jags went on to close out the set on a kill by Gittens.
USM forced a fifth set after taking set four 25-23. The Golden Eagles built a six-point lead at 19-13 late in the set, but South Alabama reeled off six straight points, highlighted by three kills from Daniel, to tie the score 19-19. A kill by Gittens later in the set tied the score 23-23, but consecutive kills by Purdue claimed the set for USM.
USA extended its winning streak to four matches with the win. The Jaguars will return to action this weekend at the Homewood Suites Classic, hosted by Florida Gulf Coast, in Fort Myers, Fla. USA will open the tournament Fri., Sept. 9, at 9 a.m. (CT) against Marist.
Bobcats Take Down Bearkats in Four Sets
SAN MARCOS, Texas – A balanced attack and timely blocks helped the Texas State volleyball team defeat Sam Houston State Tuesday evening in Strahan Coliseum 3-1 (25-18, 14-25, 25-17, 25-21).
The Bobcats improved to 4-4 on the season while the Bearkats are now 4-3.
After falling behind 5-3 in the first set, Texas State went on a 7-1 run to go in front for good. Jaliyah Bolden and Kelsey Weynand both had two kills apiece during the scoring stretch.
The second set was close early but a strong offensive performance from SHSU allowed the visitors to tie the match 1-1. The Bearkats recorded 14 kills with a .357 attack percentage in the set while holding the Bobcats to only eight kills.
In the third set, Texas State jumped out to a 14-9 advantage. However, SHSU scored five straight to tie the score. A kill by Jordan Kohl kicked started a 6-1 scoring burst for the Bobcats to go back in front.
The teams traded the next four points to make the score 21-17 in favor of Texas State. Four consecutive kills, two coming on the hand of Kohl, by the Bobcats put them up 2-1 in the match.
A Texas State service error gave the Bearkats a 6-4 advantage in set four. SHSU followed with a service of its own. Then Kelsey Weynand smacked a kill and followed by combining on a block with Morgan Lewis to put the Bobcats back in the lead. Texas State eventually stretched its lead to 14-7 after the visitors were called for a ball handling error.
The Bearkats came back to cut the Bobcat lead to two twice, the last being at 23-21. Bolden teamed up with Kohl for a block to give the Bobcats match point. The Rowlett, Texas native then helped finish off the match, along with Shelby Vas Matt, with another block.
Weynand led all Texas State players with 11 kills. Bolden added 10 kills and a team-high .318 attack percentage and five rejections. Finishing the night with nine kills and four blocks was Kohl. Erin Hoppe was credited with 40 assists.
Vas Matt paced the team with 16 digs and two service aces. She also added eight kills and two assists. Also finishing with double-digit digs were Ali Hubicsak (11) and Alex Silver (13).
Texas State finished the evening with 51 kills, a .230 attack percentage and six aces. Defensively, the team recorded nine blocks and had 64 digs. SHSU was held to 47 kills on a .177 attack percentage and recorded only three rejections.
Next up for the Bobcats is the North Harbour Marriott Challenge in Portland, Oregon. The team begins the tournament against CSU Bakersfield on Friday at 12 p.m. CDT followed by a 5 p.m. match that day against Utah. Concluding the tournament on Saturday, Texas State faces Portland at 12 p.m. CDT.
Mountaineers Drop Five-Set Match to WCU
CULLOWHEE, N.C. –– Appalachian State University volleyball dropped its fourth match in a row when it conceded a 2-0 match lead to Western Carolina on Tuesday evening.
The Mountaineers (2-5) were led again by true freshman Emma Longley who tallied 24 kills and finished with a hitting percentage of .310. Longley also collected a double-double with 12 digs.
Ashlyn Brown bounced back with a 32 assist performance. Kati Stammen led the defense with 17 digs, while Kennedy Wilson finished with 14.
“Credit to Western who rallied around each other, without their starting setter on the floor and played very well in the last three sets,” said head coach Matt Ginipro. “We just aren’t very consistent right now. One piece is good and another falls apart which is leading to stress on the court. Our offense was pretty good but our first ball contact wasn’t. We competed hard in the first two sets, but that went away in the last three. Our training environment needs to change because what we currently are doing clearly isn’t working. That’s on me. We’ve got to find ways to get better and more consistent on the court.”
App State took the first two sets to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. The Apps built up a 16-10 advantage in the first set and used kills from Jenna Talbert, an attack ace from Brown and errors from the Catamounts to finish the set 25-17.
Much like the opening set, App State used an 8-3 run up 17-16 to finish off Western in the second set. The run was keyed by a kill from Brown and capped by an ace from Olivia Reed.
Appalachian fell behind early in the third set and got down by as many as nine at 21-12. The Catamounts used kills and three errors from the Mountaineers to extend the match with a 25-14 victory.
Both teams battled back and forth in the fourth set with the score eventually tied 20-20. Back-to-back kills from Western Carolina forced a Mountaineer timeout. App State couldn’t recover from the two-point deficit and lost the set 25-22.
With the match tied and the fifth set in favor of the Apps at 9-8, the Catamounts went on a 7-0 run to clinch the set and seal the match. Six Mountaineer errors combined with a kill from WCU ended the match.
The Mountaineers will return to the court on Friday, Sept. 9 when they travel to the Morehead State Tournament. The Apps will play Morehead State and Northern Kentucky on Friday and Ball State on Saturday.
Cowgirls Slip Past Ragin' Cajuns in Four Sets
LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball dropped a four-set match to McNeese State on the final night of a five-match homestand at Earl K. Long Gym.
Led by Rae Myers, who came off the bench and produced 15 kills, McNeese (2-6) rebounded from a loss in the opening set and rallied for the 3-1 (16-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-17) win over the Ragin' Cajuns (1-7).
The Cowgirls hit .333 and .391 in the second and third set, respectively, to forge ahead in the match. The Ragin' Cajuns fought off set point twice in the fourth set only to have McNeese land a kill and a service ace to break a 25-all tie and end the match.
Stacey Reilly posted a double-double for the fifth consecutive match, leading the Ragin' Cajuns with 16 kills and 19 digs. Reilly has reached double digits in kills all eight matches.
Reilly concluded the five-match homestand with 69 kills over 21 sets (3.29 kills/set) and contributed 75 digs (3.57 digs per set).
Chanelle Gardner tallied 12 kills on just 22 swings, fueled by a .500 hitting percentage (12 K, 1 E, 22 TA). Gardner has hit above .300 each match this season. She upped her season percentage to .427, which ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Ragin' Cajuns served up a season-high 11 aces. Reilly collected a career-high five, with three alone in the opening set.
Louisiana won the first set for the seventh time in eight matches. Gardner paved the way with five kills on nine attempts as the Ragin' Cajuns held an 11-7 edge in kills.
Gardner opened the set with a kill and with the exception of two early ties, Louisiana led the entire way to a 25-16 triumph. After the Cowgirls cut the deficit to 18-15, the Ragin' Cajuns reeled off five unanswered points largely benefitting from McNeese attack errors.
The Cowgirls responded in the second set with 16 kills, while the Ragin' Cajuns produced eight and hit .061. The visitors grabbed the first point and fought off five ties to prevent Louisiana from taking a 2-0 lead.
The Ragin' Cajuns, who trailed 21-15, sliced their deficit to 23-20 on a kill from Reilly. The Cowgirls countered with a kill by Jenny D'Alessandro, for a sideout, then a block thrown up by D'Alessandro and Myers to secure set point and even the match.
Louisiana turns its attention to its final two pre-conference tournaments of the season – the North Texas Invitational (Sept. 9-10) in Denton, Texas and Fight Like Hal Memorial Invitational hosted by UAB (Sept. 15-16) in Birmingham, Ala.
First up is the trip to Denton this weekend for the North Texas Invitational at the Mean Green Volleyball Center. The Ragin' Cajuns will face host-North Texas at 12:30 p.m. and UNCW at 5 p.m. on Friday, then have an early morning bout with Indiana State at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
ACU Stuns UTA in Five
ABILENE, Texas – Taylor Murata finished with the most digs by a UTA player since 2013, but Abilene Christian rallied from a 2-1 deficit to take the final two sets and knock off UT Arlington, 3-2 (26-28, 25-18, 18-25, 25-22, 18-16) on Tuesday at Moody Coliseum.
The Mavs (3-5) had three players – Kaitlyn Granger, Qiana Canete and Zhanelle Geathers – with at least 14 kills, but could not hold back the Wildcats (1-7) in the final two sets.
UTA will next head to Corpus Christi this weekend for three matches, starting Friday against UNLV.
SET 1
UTA hit .318 in Set 1, but had to play catch-up to go up 1-0 in the match after trailing for much of the set before a 7-1 run gave it a 21-15 lead. Granger needed 17 swings to get home six of UTA's 19 kills in the frame, which helped the Mavs get to a set-point try at 24-21 late in the set. But ACU fought off three straight set-point tries and forced extra points, getting to a set-point try of its own at 25-24 before Granger knotted it back up at 25-25. The Mavs then got a block from Geathers and Jessica Nwabuko to get to another set-point opportunity before Geathers found the floor for the fourth time to give the Mavs a 28-26 win.
SET 2
ACU tied it up at a set apiece with a near wire-to-wire 25-18 win in the second set. The Wildcats upped its attack percentage to .294 in the second set, holding UTA to just .111 hitting. UTA held a brief 9-8 lead on a kill from Granger, but the Wildcats responded with eight consecutive points to take control of the set, scoring three of the final five points to close it out.
SET 3
The Mavs picked up five blocks in the third set to take a 25-18 win of their own and go up 2-1 in the match. Marisah Ingram was in on three of the blocks, helping hold ACU to -.026 hitting and 12 attack errors for the set. UTA led 9-7 before reeling off four straight points to go up 13-7 and eventually stretched it out to 23-16 late in the set before Kylie Jedlicka finished it off with her third kill of the set.
SET 4
In the fourth set the Wildcats returned the favor at the net, blocking five sets of their own in forcing a decisive fifth frame. UTA led as late as the 18-17 point on a kill from Geathers, but could not draw back even. ACU's Jacey Smith provided the biggest point of the set with a kill to cap the longest rally of the night and give the Wildcats a 23-21 lead. ACU finished it off with consecutive blocks on the final two points and held UTA to -.019 hitting for the set.
SET 5
ACU jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the final set before the Mavs roared back to tie it at 5-5, and eventually take the lead at 10-9 on an attack error from Jacey Smith. The Mavs worked their way to a pair of match-point tries at both 14-13 and 15-14, but the Wildcats managed to fight off both and cashed in on their second match-point try to finish off the set despite hitting just .086 to UTA's .207.
PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
Freshman libero Taylor Murata finished with 34 digs, the most by any UTA player since Caitlyn Cooney had 35 against Little Rock in October of 2013. Kaitlyn Granger set a new career high with 15 kills, while Qiana Canete (14 kills, 18 digs) and Cassidy Wheeler (28 assists, 13 digs) each had double-doubles. Zhanelle Geathers finished with 14 kills and six blocks.
KEY STATS
The Mavs led in blocks 9.0-5.0 after the third set, but were outblocked 7.0-3.0 in the final three frames. ACU finished with eight service errors for the match, but did not have a misfire from the service line in the final frame while the Mavs contributed two in what was otherwise a statistically-even set.
Red Wolves Drops 3-1 Match to Ole Miss
OXFORD, Miss. (9/6/16) – The Arkansas State volleyball team traveled to Oxford, Miss., Tuesday night, but suffered a 3-1 (22-25, 18-25, 25-20, 16-25) setback to the Rebels at the Pavilion in a contest that was broadcast on SEC Network +.
Ole Miss (7-0) outhit the Red Wolves (4-3) .369 to .196 during the match and also had 10 blocks to Arkansas State’s four. Carlisa May led A-State with 16 kills, while Brentlee Weaver and Kenzie Fields each had 10 apiece. Fields also led the team with four of the team’s seven aces, which were a season high for the Red Wolves. Mallory Warrington dished out 45 assists, while Markie Schaedig led the squad with 20 digs, her fourth match with at least 20 digs on the year.
“I felt like we didn’t compete very well tonight, especially in the second and fourth sets,” A-State head volleyball coach David Rehr said. “We just aren’t a very good volleyball team right now. We showed our potential in the third game, but didn’t capitalize on it.”
The Red Wolves took a 10-9 edge in the first set with the help of a couple of aces by Fields, and extended the lead to 17-14 on a kill by Fields. However, Ole Miss came back to take a 21-20 edge and closed the set on a 4-2 run to win 25-22. A-State never really found its stride in set two and trailed by as many as nine at 20-11. The team got within six at 24-18, but Ole Miss won the next point for a 25-18 set win and 2-0 edge in the match. The home team outhit the Red Wolves .400 to .227 during the first two games.
A-State played its best set during the third set by jumping out to a 19-12 advantage on an Anna Murphy kill. Ole Miss was able to get within 24-20, but another Murphy kill gave the Red Wolves a 25-20 set win. However, it was all Ole Miss in set four as the Rebels raced out to a 13-4 advantage and won the set 25-16 to claim the victory in the match 3-1.
Arkansas State returns to action Thursday night in the first game of the A-State Invitational with a matchup against in-state opponent Central Arkansas. First serve from the Convocation Center is set for 6 p.m.