JAG VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS BOBCATS IN SBC OPENER
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The University of South Alabama volleyball team swept Texas State in straight sets (25-20, 26-24, 25-18) Friday at Strahan Coliseum to open Sun Belt Conference play.

South Alabama (6-5, 1-0 SBC) set a season high in blocks (17) in the win, led by Symone Stephenson who finished with a career-high 10 total blocks. Texas State (8-7, 0-1 SBC) recorded just four total blocks in the loss, which marked its fourth straight.

USA will wrap up its weekend road swing with a 6:30 p.m. match with Texas-Arlington Saturday at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.

GAME FACTS
- USA recorded a .306 team hitting percentage in the opening set, which it one 25-20, led by Kelley Hartman's four kills and .571 hitting percentage. Iva Durdanovic and Kristina Alabastro added three kills each in the first set.
- Texas State earned set point at 24-21 in the second set, but three straight Bobcat errors – one service error and two attack errors – tied the set at 24-24. Following a Texas State timeout, the Jaguars scored two straight points on a block assist by Symone Stephenson and Iva Durdanovic and a set-clinching solo block by Stephenson.
- The Jags clinched the final set with a 4-0 scoring run, highlighted by kills from Alabastro and Durdanovic.
- The match marked the first time this season South Alabama did not record a service ace.
- Texas State committed 32 attack errors and finished with a .042 team hitting percentage.

NOTES
- Stephenson finished with a career-high 10 blocks, two solo blocks and eight blocks assists, as well as four kills and two digs.
- Parker Harrell recorded her first double-double of the season after finishing with 15 assists and 12 digs. Ashlyn Roberts added 10 assists and five digs
- Durdanovic led the team with 10 kills along with two digs and six block assists. Kelley Hartman finished with nine kills, a .350 hitting percentage, one dig and five total blocks – one solo and four block assists.
- Abby Baker recorded a game-high 19 digs in three sets as well as four assists.
- South Alabama snapped a four-game losing skid in the series with the win, and cut the Texas State all-time series lead to 7-3. It marked USA's first win over Texas State since 2015, and the program's first-ever win in San Marcos.

QUOTES
Head Coach Amy Hendrichovsky
- On the win:
"We challenged the team, and they performed exactly how we asked them to perform tonight. It was a good win to open conference play at Texas State."

- On the defensive effort:
"That was a huge aspect of our success. We were able to execute our game plan blocking-wise, and it really made them (Texas State) uncomfortable as attackers. I was very happy with our team; that's something we've been working on through the preseason and haven't really put three complete sets together back-to-back-to-back. But we were able to do that tonight."

- On looking ahead to Texas-Arlington:
"I think the big thing is celebrating tonight's win briefly, but I told the team we have to start focusing on UTA on the trip over to Arlington tonight. We can always improve. It's early in the season and we have some things that we are looking to improve in. I thought for one set tonight we executed our offense cleanly, and if we can execute our offense efficiently for three sets then that would be improvement from tonight."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action when it squares off with Texas-Arlington at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. Live streaming and live stats will be available and can be accessed through the Jaguar volleyball schedule page at USAJaguars.com.

APP DEFEATS LITTLE ROCK IN SUN BELT OPENER
LITTLE ROCK, A.R. – Appalachian State volleyball wins a hard-fought match to Sun Belt opponent Little Rock on Friday, Sept. 22.

After losing the first set (13-25), App State battled to win the second set (25-17). The Trojans took the third (25-21), but the Mountaineers won the fourth (25-22) and fifth (15-13) sets for a thrilling victory.

Kara Spicer made an impact during tonight's matchup with a total of 14 kills. Emma Reilly earned 2 aces and 26 digs. Grace Morrison had 3 kills, and Ashlyn Brown led the team with 44 assists.

App State volleyball is now 6-9 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers will head to Arkansas State tomorrow, Sept. 23 for more Sun Belt play at 7:30 p.m.

For the rest of the schedule and further news, visit www.appstatesports.com.

Mavs Top Troy In Conference Opener
ARLINGTON, Texas – Senior Qiana Canete recorded her eighth double-double of the season to help lead UTA volleyball to a four-set win (25-21, 24-26, 25-15, 25-18) over Troy in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams, on Friday night at College Park Center.

UTA (7-7, 1-0 Sun Belt) earned the win in the opener of the league schedule, claiming the first and final two sets of the match to best Troy (5-10, 0-1 Sun Belt). The Mavs won a tight first set and after falling behind midway through the second, fought back to tie the set at 24-24 but fell 26-24. UTA then answered to win 50 of the next 83 points to earn the four-set victory.

The Mavs hit for a .206 percentage with 41 assists and 73 digs in the set, holding Troy to a .127 hitting percentage.

LEADING THE MAVS
Senior Qiana Canete charted her eighth double-double of the year, totaling 11 kills and 14 digs. Junior Zhanelle Geathers had a match-high 17 kills, with Madison McConnell sporting eight kills on a .438 hitting percentage. Freshman Kailyn Gilbreath had a match-best 35 assists and junior libero Libbie Vickers added 24 digs. Tessa Harfield finished with three kills, with Kylie Jedlicka adding four kills and 10 digs. Senior Ashlynn Ford finished with 12 digs.

NEXT
The Mavs will return to action on Saturday vs. South Alabama at 6:30 p.m. CT at College Park Center. The game will be streamed live on UTAMavs.com.

SET ONE
After Troy opened the scoring, Geathers terminated her first kill to get the Mavs on the board. Troy took a 3-2 lead before the Mavs evened it up and started a 6-0 run to force a timeout from the Trojans with UTA owning a 9-3 lead, with the Mavs getting a key block from Geathers and McConnell and an ace from Jedlicka. The teams traded points with the set tied up at 11, 12, 13 and 14 and was able to use a two point run with kills from Geathers and Canete to take a 16-14 lead. After a 2-0 run from Troy, Coach J.T. Wenger used UTA’s first timeout with a 20-19 lead. The Mavs finished off the set with a pair of 2-0 runs to earn a 25-21 result in the first. UTA hit .175 as a team with Geathers owning six kills in the set.

SET TWO
Troy opened the set strong after the Mavs started the scoring, taking a 7-3 lead. UTA used a 2-0 run to cut the lead to 7-5 and the Trojans took a point off a long rally to earn an 8-5 advantage. Troy kept the Mavs just at arm’s length after UTA cut the lead to 11-10. After a 3-0 run saw the Troy lead extended to 18-15, UTA fought back on the strength of a 4-0 run to even up the match at 24-24. Troy then scored the next two to finish off the set, 26-24.

SET THREE
The Trojans opened up the set with a 5-1 lead using a 3-0 and 2-0 run. The Mavs then went on a furious 6-0 run to take a 7-5 lead with Wenger winning a challenge to finish off the run. UTA then used a 2-0 run and a 3-0 run to take a 13-8 advantage at a Troy timeout, with Gilbreath’s service ace forcing the timeout. Canete’s termination gave UTA a 14-10 lead

SET FOUR
The Mavs took an early lead to open the set but each team traded a pair of 2-0 runs to take the match to 6-6. UTA answered a third Troy 2-0 run with a 5-0 stretch that included a Canete ace and saw UTA extend its lead to 12-8. The clubs traded points, with UTA taking a 16-11 lead on a Harfield kill. After UTA stretched its lead to 18-12, Troy called for its last timeout. Troy went on a 5-0 run to make it tight at 19-17 but the Mavs finished off the set with five of the final six points for the win.

Coastal Downs A-State in Sun Belt Opener
JONESBORO, Ark. - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team opened its Sun Belt Conference schedule in convincing fashion Friday night, defeating the league's defending west division champions, Arkansas State, in four sets (25-14, 21-25, 27-25, 25-18).

Coastal improves to 4-6 overall with the win, and carries a 1-0 Sun Belt record into Saturday night's 7:30 pm ET match at Little Rock.

The Chants looked impressive throughout, closing the match hitting .284 while holding A-State to a .097 hitting percentage. The Chanticleer defense racked up 66 digs and 10 blocks, including 16 digs each from Sydney Alvis and Sara Booth, and five blocks each from Kyla Manning and Leah Levert.

Offensively, Manning and Levert had 11 and 10 kills, respectively, and the latter posted a hitting percentage over .400.

Leah Hardeman led all players with 19 kills, the second of which moved her into fourth place all time in Coastal history in the category. The senior also hit .364 for the match, and added 14 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.

Boothe also notched a double-double for the Chants, adding 29 assists to her 16 digs.

Coastal came out of the gate firing in the first set, jumping out to a commanding 12-2 lead and continuing to keep the pressure on to cruise to an 11-point set win. The Chanticleer defense limited A-State to hitting -.105 with 16 digs and three blocks, while Dora Lulic and Manning combined to put down seven of the Chants' 12 kills.

The second set opened with each side trading point for point and neither team leading by more than two, until A-State used a 5-1 run to pull ahead 19-15. The four-point cushion proved to be the difference-maker, as the Red Wolves won the set by as many points to even the match.

For the third straight set, the team that built the first lead went on to win the game. Coastal opened the set by going ahead 5-1, and later won four straight points to push its advantage to 17-10. A-State battled back, however, using a 7-2 streak to trim the Chants' lead to a single point. Hardeman then landed a kill to give Coastal set point, but the Red Wolves managed to even the set with consecutive kills. Levert broke a 25-25 tie, and an A-State error gave Coastal the set win.

The match-long trend of an early lead turning into a set win continued into the fourth. Coastal opened with three straight points, and then strung together a 9-1 stretch to take what proved to be an insurmountable 17-8 lead. The Chants remained ahead by at least six points for the remainder of set to finish off their conference-opening victory.

Antoine-Led Cajuns Collect Win in Sun Belt Opener
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball team started Sun Belt-opening weekend with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 23-25, 25-16) win over Georgia Southern at Hanner Fieldhouse.

Louisiana (7-7, 1-0 Sun Belt) prevented Georgia Southern (2-8, 0-1 Sun Belt) from stringing together scoring runs over the first two sets, posting a 76 percent success on sideout opportunities, in taking a commanding lead in the match.

After the Eagles forced a fourth set, the Ragin' Cajuns closed the final frame with a 15-5 run to avoid the winner-take-all scenario. Louisiana collected 14 kills off 31 swings and hit .387 in closing out the Eagles.

Louisiana finished with a .264 hitting percentage, hitting above .200 for the fourth time in the past five outings. The squad held a 61-48 edge in kills and averaged over 14 per set in a four-set match for the third straight time.

The Ragin' Cajuns won their Sun Belt Conference opener for the second straight year. The program is off a 1-0 start in league play in consecutive years for the first time since 1997-98.

LEADING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
Nia Antoine led the way with a career-high tying 18 kills on a .536 percentage and five total blocks (1 BS, 4 BA). Hali Wisnoskie and Stacey Reilly also delivered double digits in kills, with 13 and 10, respectively.

Dree'Ana Abram delivered in all facets of the match, tallying nine kills, two aces and two blocks. Setter Jessica Bartczyszyn chipped in five kills and seven digs to go along with 48 assists.

Reilly scooped a team-best 16 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Sydney Davis (14), Lexi Hebert (14) and Avery Breaux (10) also reached double digits in digs.

UP NEXT
Louisiana closes out Sun Belt-opening weekend, and a three-week long road trip, on Saturday in Atlanta facing Georgia State. First serve from the GSU Sports Arena is set for 5 p.m. (CDT).

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Both squads' ability to collect sideouts kept the opening set close until the end. There were 15 ties through 17-all. The Cajuns high percentage on sideouts (84%) proved to be the difference in the end.

After a kill from Murray drew the Eagles within one at 19-18, Louisiana collected a sideout on a kill by Cordell and stretched the lead to 21-18 when Antoine landed the first of three kills she would collect down the stretch.

The Cajuns ability to prevent the Eagles from posting back-to-back tallies kept the hosts at bay after a kill by Reichard made it 22-19. Louisiana collected the sideout and started a string of three straight kills that clinched the set.

- Louisiana got off to a fast start in the second set, opening a 6-2 lead and later extending the margin to 12-6 off a Wisnsokie kill. After Georgia Southern closed the gap to 14-10, the Ragin' Cajuns put the set away after Reilly delivered the first pair of four consecutive kills that stretched the lead to 18-10.

- The Eagles found success in stringing together points in the third set and that enabled them to extend the match. The hosts' second 4-0 run of the stanza opened a 19-17 lead. Then after Louisiana forged a 19-all tie, the Eagles won the next three rallies on Cajuns miscues to have enough cushion to hold on in the end.

- The Ragin' Cajuns seized control of the fourth set with a 5-0 run that wiped out the Eagles' last lead (11-10). The run ended on a service error, but Antoine's 18th and final kill of the night secured a critical sideout, then consecutive GS mishits stretched the Louisiana lead to 18-12.

The Eagles had one last push, scoring four straight to trim their deficit to 19-16. After a bad set, the Ragin' Cajuns' final blow included five kills and an ace that spawned a 6-0 run which secured match point.

QUICK HITS
- Louisiana, making its second visit, picked up its first win at Hanner Fieldhouse. It was the first match between the two programs at the facility since Oct. 2015.

- Nia Antoine's 18 kills tied her career-high figure established last Oct. 23 at Appalachian State. The total pushed her over 400 kills in her career (currently has 413).

- With 14 digs, Sydney Davis upped her career total to 1,124 which moves her past Andrea Hole's 1,119 for the fourth-most recorded in the rally scoring era.

- Freshman Hali Wisnoskie reached double digits in kills for the fourth time in the past five matches and seventh time overall. At 140 kills, she's on pace to become the first freshman to hit 200 kills since Stacey Reilly in 2014.

- Stacey Reilly's 10 kills marked her team-leading 10th match with double digits and the 38th overall in her career. Reilly's career kills tally increased to 878 moving her within 22 of the 900-plateau.

- Louisiana won on the opposition's home court for the second straight time. The current streak began with a four-set win at Chicago State last Friday.

- Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot picked up her 126th win as Ragin' Cajuns head coach. She's now 10 wins shy of tying Wilo Colon's program-record 136 victories.

PANTHERS WIN FIVE-SET THRILLER
ATLANTA- Georgia State volleyball won a five-set heart stopper over UL-Monroe (25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 14-25, 15-9) Friday night at the GSU Sports Arena. The win improved the Panther’s record to 7-7 on the season and 1-0 in Sun Belt play. GSU has won four of their last five matches.

The Panthers could not have asked for a better start, as Crystal Lee recorded an ace on the first point of the match. Lee’s 27 aces lead the Sun Belt. Georgia State would build a lead that at its largest point reached eight points. Monroe would not go away, cutting the GSU lead to 24-22 late in the first set before the Panthers were able to close the door and take the set 25-22.

The second set saw Monroe race out to a 5-2 lead, but Georgia State would rally to take a 6-5 advantage. The Warhawks would again take control of the set pulling away to 18-13 lead. The Panthers showed great resiliency cutting the lead to 19-18, but ULM would take the set 25-21.

The beginning of the third set was much kinder to GSU who hopped out to a quick 4-1 lead. The Panthers would continue to lead until ULM tied the set at 18. Monroe would take a 22-20 lead, but a 4-0 run following a timeout by GSU would give Georgia State the lead for good. The Panthers would roll to a 25-23 win.

Things did not go Georgia State’s way early in the fourth set as Monroe opened the set with an 8-0 run. The Warhawks would stroll to a 25-14 win, prompting a fifth set.

n the decider GSU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Kills by Sydney Stroud and Morgan Hash, along with an ace by Celeste Friesen would extend the lead to 8-2 for Georgia State. The Panthers would cruise to a 15-9 win behind four kills and a .571 hitting percentage by Hash.

“This is a big step for us to protect our home court and to control what we can control,” said Panther coach Sally Polhamus. “We finished playing aggressive tonight, and we came out for that fifth set ready to win.”

Sarah Renner dished out a season high 52 assists and added 12 digs for her first double double on the year. Crystal Lee notched a double double as well with 14 kills and 11 digs. Lee was not Renner’s only target as Sydney Stroud (16) and Morgan Hash (14) both had double digit kills. Celeste Friesen tallied 29 digs, and Katie Creger added seven blocks.

“What makes us a difficult team to defend is that we have so many options”, said Polhamus. “Sarah did a great job running the floor for us, and all of our options were working tonight."

Georgia State will continue conference play tomorrow with a match against Louisiana. The Panthers and the Ragin’ Cajuns will hit the court at 6:00 p.m. at the GSU Sports Arena.