JAGS SWEEP EAGLES TO REMAIN PERFECT IN SBC PLAY
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team swept Georgia Southern in straight sets (25-20, 25-15, 25-14) Saturday in Sun Belt Conference action at Jag Gym.

USA (9-5, 4-0 SBC) remained perfect in league play with the win, which marked its fourth straight and the sixth in the last seven matches. The victory also marked the Jaguars' second in straight sets in conference play.

South Alabama will return to action Wed., Oct. 4, when it hosts Troy in a SBC contest at 6 p.m. at Jag Gym.

GAME FACTS
- USA used a 7-0 scoring run early in the opening set, highlighted by two kills each from Iva Durdanovic and Kelley Hartman, to build a 13-6 lead. The Eagles answered with a 5-0 scoring run, aided by three Jaguar attack errors, to cut the USA lead to 13-11. South Alabama responded with four straight points to build a 17-11 advantage, which led to a Georgia Southern timeout. USA earned set point on a kill by Kristina Alabastro, and clinched the set at 25-20 on an Eagle service error.
- Hartman recorded six kills in the opening set with a .556 hitting percentage.
- The Jaguars earned set point in the second set on an Eagle service error, and clinched the set at 25-15 on a service ace by Durdanovic.
- South Alabama used an 8-0 scoring run in the third set, highlighted by a pair of kills from Hartman and Alabastro and a pair of service aces from Durdanovic, to push its lead to 19-11.
- The Jags earned set point in the final set on a kill by Hannah Harris, and clinched the match on a Georgia Southern attack error.
- USA posted a .351 team hitting percentage in the second set, and capped the match with a .481 hitting percentage in the final set.

NOTES
- USA recorded a .323 team hitting percentage, its highest mark in SBC play this season.
- Hartman finished with a game-high 10 kills, .500 hitting percentage, one assist, one service ace, one dig, one solo block and two block assists.
- Parker Harrell recorded a team-high 18 assists along with six digs. Ashlyn Roberts finished with three kills, 17 assists and four digs.
- Morgan Stalcup posted a career high in hitting percentage (.467) and tied her career high in kills (9), while also recording one dig and four block assists.
- Durdanovic nine kills, three service aces, eight digs and two block assists. Alabastro finished with seven kills, .294 hitting percentage, one assist, eight digs and one block assist.
- South Alabama cut the Georgia Southern all-time series lead in half at 6-3 with the win.

QUOTES
Head Coach Amy Hendrichovsky
- On the win:
"I thought our team played consistent tonight, and really came out with a better mindset. It shows in the scores in the match, and I was proud of our team for its effort."

- On the balanced offensive attack:
"It comes down to our first contact, and I thought our first contact was pretty solid tonight. We have three hitters in the front row at all times, so as long as they follow the game plan then we're going to have somebody open when we're passing well. So it really comes down to our first contact, and then our setters following the game plan."

- On preparing for Troy on a short week:
"I think our girls have been very flexible this year. We've had to face a few things here and there, and I think our girls are really focused, on a mission and prepared for whatever comes their way. We'll prepare for this week. It will be nice to play Troy, their our in-state rival and we're excited about the opportunity."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Wed., Oct. 4, when it hosts Troy in a Sun Belt Conference contest at 6 p.m. at Jag Gym.

Cajuns Outlast Trojans in Four, Extend Record SBC Start
LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball team captured a second straight Sun Belt weekend sweep and extended its program-record league start to 4-0 with a four-set win (25-19, 25-14, 18-25, 25-20) over Little Rock at Earl K. Long Gym.

The undefeated start to league play is not only the best of the Sun Belt era, but it equals the all-time program record set by the 1986 team in the Southland Conference.

Louisiana (10-7, 4-0) hit .354 with 26 kills against only three errors in opening a 2-0 lead. With the Trojans (5-11, 1-3 Sun Belt) threatening to force a fifth set, the Ragin' Cajuns stormed to the finish line with eight kills down the stretch of the fourth set charged by Nia Antoine who landed five of the last six herself.

Louisiana won the defensive battle from Little Rock, holding a 12-5 edge in blocks and a 75-73 margin in digs. Offensively, the Ragin' Cajuns hit above .200 for the fifth straight match (.227) and limited the Trojans to a .151 clip.

The win completed the sweep of the Sun Belt's Arkansas schools over the weekend. The Ragin' Cajuns topped Arkansas State in five sets on Friday evening to keep the undefeated league start intact.

LEADING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
Antoine led Louisiana in kills with 15 on 26 swings and a .500 hitting percentage. Stacey Reilly chipped in nine kills and both Dree'Ana Abram and Hali Wisnoskie contributed eight kills.

The defensive effort was a group effort on both the front and back row. Abram (5), Reilly (4) and Wisnoskie (4) each threw up four blocks. Four individuals scooped double digits in digs: Sydney Davis (19), Lexi Hebert (17), Jessica Bartczyszyn (11) and Reilly (10).

UP NEXT
The Ragin' Cajuns play their final non-conference match of the season, and wrap up a three-match homestand, on Tuesday, Oct. 3 against Southeastern Louisiana. First serve against the Lions (2-15) is set for 6:30 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Ragin' Cajuns took charge of the opening set by stringing together five straight points which stretched out an 8-7 lead. A kill by Wisnoskie and ace from Bartczyszyn ignited the run.

The Trojans later cut the lead to 20-17, but Louisiana used a Wisnoskie kill, Hebert ace and Abram kill off an overpass to pull ahead 23-17 and lock up the set.

- The second set was back-and-forth with the lead changing hands five times. The turning point came off the serve of Abram who starting with a kill from Reilly for a 14-13 lead served up seven unanswered points to bury the visitors.

- Little Rock turned up the defensive pressure in the third set collecting 18 digs, throwing up three blocks, forcing Louisiana into four reception errors and eight attack errors in taking a 25-18 triumph which extend the match to a fourth set.

- The Trojans pulled ahead 9-5 in the fourth frame after breaking a tie with a Maritza Mesa kill and three straight Cajuns miscues. Louisiana was unable to find its footing on offense as the set progressed, netting only three kills halfway through and trailed 16-13.

Once the squad found its footing it was a scoring spree all the way to match point. Starting with an Abram kill, the Ragin' Cajuns landed 11 kills over the final 16 rallies to overwhelm the Trojans.

QUICK HITS
- Lexi Hebert's 17 digs marked the season-high total of her freshman campaign. Hebert has scooped double digits in digs in three of four Sun Belt matches and is averaging 3.44 in conference play.

- Sydney Davis' 19 digs pushed her season total to 294. She's now six shy of reaching 300 in a season for the third time in her career (376 in 2015 as a freshman; 508 in 2016 as a sophomore).

- Dree'Ana Abram continued her efficient approach in attacking in Sun Belt play. Her .389 hitting percentage (8 K, 1 E, 19 TA) marked the fourth straight match to begin league play in which she hit above .300.

- Jessica Bartczyszyn's 11 digs added to her 36 assists gave the senior setter a double-double in both weekend matches. She averaged 10 assists per set and 2.56 digs per set over the nine sets of play combined against Arkansas State and Little Rock.

- As a team, the Ragin' Cajuns picked up 23 blocks (11 vs. ASU, 12 vs. LR) over the weekend. The 2.56 average per set marked the highest weekend total since averaging 3.07 per set during the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic (Sept. 1-2).

- Stacey Reilly's nine kills increased her career total to 913 as she continues to climb toward the 1,000 mark. Her season total moved to 184, leaving her 16 shy of reaching 200 in a season for the third time in her career.

- With eight kills, freshman Hali Wisnoskie increased her season total to 169. The Columbus, Texas, native is 31 kills shy of becoming the first freshman with 200 in a season since Stacey Reilly in 2014.

- The Ragin' Cajuns improved to 8-10 vs. Little Rock with Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot, the most wins by any coach in program history in the series.

- Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot picked up her 129th win as Ragin' Cajuns head coach. She's now seven (7) wins shy of tying Wilo Colon's program-record 136 victories.

Page Powers Trojans Past Georgia State
TROY, Alabama – A monstrous performance from sophomore Logan Page handed the Trojans their first conference win of the season as they defeated Georgia State 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-9) to improve to 6-12, 1-3 SBC.

Troy got off to a hot start getting on the board first and making several runs to take a 10-4 lead that forced the Panthers (7-10, 1-3 SBC) to take a timeout. The Trojans used that momentum to go on another five-point run to essentially cap the first set 25-18 o take a 1-0 lead in the match.

While Troy took another strong lead in the second set, the Panthers rallied back to with an eight-point run to take their first lead of the night at 23-18. The Trojans took the next five-points with Cheyenne Hayes at the service line to tie the set at 23-23, but the
Panthers broke away to win the set 25-23 to even things up at 1-1.

Both teams rallied back and forth in the third set that fell in favor of the Trojans. Troy went on two solid runs in the middle of the set to go up 19-15 and capped the set with a three-point streak grab the 25-17 win. Kiara Barrett's three straight service aces gave the Trojans the momentum to regain the lead.

The Panthers refused to go down easy picking up a fourth set 25-21 win. Troy tied the game at 17-17 but five big points for the Panther set Georgia State up for a comeback.

It seemed as though a comeback was a reality for the Panthers as they went on a six-point run to take a 7-4 lead forcing the Trojans to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Troy came up big with a six-point run of their own to take a 10-7 lead, just five points from clinching their first conference win of the season. A four-point run sealed the win for the Trojans as Page fittingly earned her 18th kill of the game to put the match on ice for the Trojans.

While the Trojans were experiencing a bit of lull in blocks the past few games, they made sure to put on a block party tonight, led by Page and Savannah Moore with a 14 combined stops.

NOTEWORTHY
The Trojans outpaced the Panthers in every category except digs, where Georgia State had a 60-54 advantage.
Page's 18 kills, .680 hitting percentage, and 22.5 points are all career-highs, as well a season-highs for the Trojans.
The Trojans posted their 100th ace of the season.
Troy leads its opponents in kills (823-721), assists (765-651), aces (100-78), and digs (773-770).

QUOTABLE

"We worked on things to be a little more focused and a little more consistent, and they really responded well," head coach Josh Lauer said. "Our middle hitters Logan and Savannah showed up tonight in a big way. They played fantastic all the way through. The setters did a great job running the offense tonight. We have South Alabama on the rad in a midweek match up. They are playing with a lot of confidence right now. A match like what we had tonight should prepare us for Wednesday."

UP NEXT

Troy will travel to in-state rival South Alabama for a midweek showdown on Wednesday, October 4 at 6 p.m., before hosting the Jags in the Trojan Arena Saturday, October 7 at 4 p.m. for the Breast Cancer Awareness Game. Admission to all Troy volleyball matches is free.