JAGS DEFEAT GSU IN FOUR SETS IN SBC HOME OPENER
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team defeated Georgia State in four sets (25-18, 26-28, 25-17, 25-18) Friday in the Jaguars' Sun Belt Conference home opener at Jag Gym.

USA (8-5, 3-0 SBC) remained unbeaten in SBC play with the win, which marked its third straight victory as well as its third consecutive win at Jag Gym. The Jaguars have won five of their last six matches dating back to a Sept. 9 win over Clemson in Auburn, Ala., and are 8-2 in their last 10 contests.

South Alabama will return to action Saturday when it hosts Georgia Southern at 6:30 p.m. at Jag Gym. The match will be streamed live and available for free through JagNationTV.com. Live stats for the match will also be available through the multimedia section of USAJaguars.com.

GAME FACTS
- USA used a 5-0 scoring run early in the opening set to take a 10-7 lead.
- Later in the first set, the Jags built a 23-17 lead on a 3-0 run. GSU answered with a point to cut its deficit to 23-18, but USA responded with back-to-back points on a kills by Kelley Hartman and Kristina Alabastro to clinch the opening set.
- South Alabama faced a 7-5 deficit early in the second set, but went on a 5-0 scoring run to take a 10-7 lead.
- Georgia State earned set point in the second set on a kill Sydney Stroud to take a 24-23 lead. USA responded with a kill by Alabastro to tie the score at 24-24. After the teams swapped points to knot the score at 25-25, a kill by Hannah Harris gave USA set point at 26-25. Georgia State tied the score at 26-26 on a Jaguar error, and earned set point on a kill by Crystal Lee. The Panthers evened the match on a second kill by Lee for a 28-26 win in set two.
- USA clinched the third set by scoring six of the final seven points in the set, including the final three, highlighted by kills from Hannah Harris, Iva Durdanovic, Katelyn Lochner and Alabastro for a 25-18 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
- The Jags used a 6-0 scoring run midway through the fourth set to take a 16-7 lead.
- South Alabama posted a .270 team hitting percentage – its highest percentage in SBC play this season.

NOTES
- Alabastro and Durdanovic finished with a game-high 13 kills apiece. Alabastro recorded her double-double of the season with 13 kills and 15 digs in addition to two block assists, one assist and three service aces. Durdanovic added six digs, two solo blocks, one block assist and one assist along with a .294 hitting percentage.
- Hartman recorded 10 kills, a .429 hitting percentage, one service ace, three digs, one solo block and three block assists.
- USA totaled 10 blocks in the match, marking the sixth consecutive match it has recorded 10 or more total team blocks.
- Katelyn Lochner tied a career high with nine kills, along with a .318 hitting percentage, three digs and two block assists.
- Ashlyn Roberts led the Jags with 27 assists and also recorded eight digs and two service aces, while Parker Harrell added 18 assists and nine digs.
- Abby Baker recorded a game-high 20 digs along with one kill and two assists.

QUOTES
Head Coach Amy Hendrichovsky
- On the win:
"I give credit to Georgia State, I thought they played really well. Their defense was one of the best we have played in a while, and I thought it really challenged us offensively. We really focused on our offense this week, and it was good to see our girls execute what we focused on. Energy-wise we lost some momentum in the second set being up and I take some blame for that, but it was good for us to face that adversity in the home court and I'm glad our girls fought through it."

- On the attack:
"We have numerous weapons, and I think we had a balanced offense. Early on in the beginning of the match, we relied on two people. We talked about that and were able to execute. We had multiple people in double-digit attempts and double-digit kills, which is kudos to our setters; they did a good job running our offense tonight."

- On looking ahead to Georgia Southern:
"We know what we're focusing on right now as a team and what we want to execute, and if our girls stay process-oriented and continue to execute what we're talking about executing on the court then we'll be successful. Georgia Southern is a good team, and I look for them to come in here and push us as well."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Saturday when it hosts Georgia Southern at 6:30 p.m. at Jag Gym. The match will be streamed live and available for free through JagNationTV.com. Live stats for the match will also be available through the multimedia section of USAJaguars.com.

Coastal Sweeps UTA in Home Opener
CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team made its home debut Friday night at the HTC Center with a three-set sweep (25-18, 25-17, 25-20) of UTA.

The shutout marks Coastal's third straight victory, evens its overall record to 6-6 and keeps the Chants perfect in Sun Belt matches at 3-0. UTA, meanwhile, falls to 7-9, 1-2.

Leah Hardeman's fourth straight double-double, and ninth of the season, led the Chants in the win. The senior outside hitter tallied 15 kills and 13 digs with a .433 hitting percentage. Aristea Tontai and Larissa Dos Santos added seven kills each, including a .333 hitting percentage for the latter.

Sara Boothe led the match with 23 assists for Coastal, while Sydney Alvis also recorded a match high with 17 digs.

Coastal hit .287 as a team to UTA's .118.

Coastal opened the match hitting .297 in the first set, receiving five kills from Hardeman and four from Kyla Manning. An 8-3 Coastal run gave the Chants a 16-8 advantage, and UTA errors helped the Chants remain comfortably ahead for the remainder of the set. Coastal finished with four services in the opening game, including two from Alvis.

The Chants' .341 hitting percentage in the middle frame propelled them to an eight-point set win. Hardeman put down another five kills, while Dos Santos added four and Tontai contributed three. Coastal finished the set strong with an 8-3 run after surrendering four straight points.

Coastal led the final set from start to finish as Boothe served the Chants to a 5-0 lead. UTA managed to trim Coastal's advantage to a single point, but five straight points on the serve of Hardeman pushed the Chants comfortably in front, 19-13, allowing them to finish off the match.

The Chants return to action at the HTC Center on Sunday for a 12:30 pm match versus Texas State.

LR Posts 30th Consecutive Win Over ULM in 3-0 Sweep
MONROE, La. – Little Rock volleyball tallied its 30th consecutive victory over ULM as the Trojans earned a 3-0 win (25-21, 25-16, 25-13) over the Warhawks on Friday night at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

The Trojans' win was also head coach Van Compton's 450th Division I victory.

Maritza Mesa led the match with 10 kills and a career-high .529 hitting percentage for the Trojans (5-10, 1-2 Sun Belt). Taylor Lindberg put together her first double-double of the season with 23 assists, a team-high 12 digs, three kills, three block assists and two aces. Tamaira Armstrong put down a career-high eight kills with five digs and three block assists. Veronica Marin put up a match-high seven block assists with six kills. Sydnee Martin led the match with three aces and had six assists and six digs.

Jennifer McClendon led the Warhawks (4-16, 0-3 Sun Belt) with nine kills and a .300 hitting percentage. Libero Kacey LeBlanc led the match with 14 digs.

Little Rock put the match away in the third set with a 12-point win over ULM. The Trojans' offense hit .348 for the set compared to the Warhawks' -.036. Also helping Little Rock's cause was four total blocks. Marin led the set with four block assists of her own. Martin tallied all three of her aces in the final frame. The Trojans trailed 3-0 early, but they put together a 5-1 run to take the lead for good.

The Trojans took the second frame with its largest lead of the set at nine points after hitting .281 compared to the Warhawks' -.027. Little Rock also put up five blocks for the set while Daisha Gillard had two solo blocks and one block assist. After being tied early at 1-1, Little Rock led for the rest of the set.

Little Rock took the first set by four points after putting down 17 kills and a .278 hitting percentage. Mesa and Marina Avram each led the set with four kills while Avram had five digs. Lindberg tallied 12 assists.

Gillard ended the match with seven kills and three total blocks. Avram finished with 11 digs and five kills.

Little Rock had the advantage in kills (39-27), hitting percentage (.297-.041), assists (32-25), aces (8-5), digs (43-39) and total blocks (10-1).

The Trojans will now set their sights on the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns as they'll travel to Lafayette for Saturday's match at 6:30 p.m.

Cajuns Take Thriller from ASU, Remain Unbeaten in SBC
LAFAYETTE – With a 3-2 (25-20, 13-25, 24-26, 28-26, 15-11) win over Arkansas State Friday evening at Earl K. Long Gym the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Volleyball team is off to the program's first-ever 3-0 start in the Sun Belt Conference era.

It's the best conference start for the program since the 1986 team opened Southland Conference play 4-0.

Louisiana (9-7, 3-0 Sun Belt) rallied from a 24-21 deficit to claim the fourth set and force the winner-take-all where the squad out-hit Arkansas State (8-8, 1-2 Sun Belt) .375-.242 in clinching the match victory.

In front of an intense near-capacity crowd of 859 the two teams battled in a heart-stopping affair. There were a combined 139 kills (70-69 in ASU's favor) and both teams scooped over 100 digs.

The Ragin' Cajuns stretched their home-court win streak at EKL to four matches and remained one of three Sun Belt teams undefeated in the early stages of conference play.

LEADING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
Five players tallied double digits in kills led by Stacey Reilly's 15 which marked her team-leading 12th match of double figures. Dree'Ana Abram notched a career-high 14 kills, Hali Wisnoskie furnished 13 kills, Nia Antoine chipped in 12 kills and Hanna Rovira added 10 kills.

In addition to hitting a solid .226, Rovira was clutch in key blocking situations and finished with a match-high five blocks (4 BS, 1 BA). Abram and Wisnoskie each posted four blocks in leading Louisiana to an 11-8 edge in the category.

Jessica Bartczysyzn handed out 54 assists and Sydney Davis tied her season-high with 27 digs. The invaluable back row efforts from freshmen Lexi Hebert and Avery Breaux continued, as they collected 16 and 14 digs, respectively.

UP NEXT
The Ragin' Cajuns wrap up the weekend conference homestand with a match against Little Rock (5-10, 1-2 Sun Belt) on Saturday at Earl K. Long Gym. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear black.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- In the first set, Louisiana stormed out to a 4-0 lead and withstood an answer from the Red Wolves. ASU rallied and led 11-9, but the Ragin' Cajuns drew even at 11-all and used kills from Abram and Wisnoskie to take the lead for good at 13-11.

Louisiana's final push came when an Abram kill and back-to-back blocks extended the lead to 24-19.

- ASU came out blazing in the second set and finished with a .483 hitting percentage in the frame to even the match.

- With the match lead on the line in the third set, the Ragin' Cajuns drew a 24-all tie following a block by Wisnoskie and Abram. However, a miscue by Wisnoskie and kill from Kenzie Fields after both teams scrambed during the ensuing rally gave ASU the 26-24 win and a 2-1 match lead.

- The lead swapped hands five times in the fourth set and Louisiana had a dramatic rally with their backs against the wall. Trailing 24-21, a service error handed the ball to the Cajuns who after an Hebert ace and ASU attack error pulled into a tie.

Knotted at 26-all, Wisnoskie landed a kill to give Louisiana its final lead of the frame. Set point came on the next rally when Timber Terrell swung and hit a ball out of bounds.

- Neither team broke away from the other in the fifth set until the Ragin' Cajuns forged ahead 8-6 after kills by Antoine and Reilly. The hosts were finally able to get a three-point edge when Fields committed an attack error which gave Louisiana a 13-10 lead.

QUICK HITS
- On the night she surpassed 900 career kills, it was fitting that Stacey Reilly secured match point with a kill. The Houston native now owns 904 kills and is inching ever closer to a 1,000-1,000 career (picked up 1,000th in Chicago).

- Hanna Rovira's 10 kills marked a season-high for the St. Joseph's Academy product, while the five blocks established a new career-high figure.

- Jessica Bartczyszyn averaged 10-plus assists per set for the fourth straight match. She reached 50 assists for the third time this season (57 vs. Jacksonville State, 50 at Chicago State).

- Dree'Ana Abram continued her hot hitting which started last weekend on the Sun Belt-opening road trip in Georgia. By hitting .355 tonight (14 K, 3 E, 31 TA), she hit above .300 for the third straight outing to open conference play.

- Sydney Davis matched her season-high digs total of 27 recorded at Chicago State. She piled up 20-pus for the fourth time this season and has now been in double digits in 14 of 16 matches.

- Sydney Davis is now 25 digs 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).

- The win snapped a six-match losing streak in the series with Arkansas State. Louisiana defeated the Red Wolves for the first time since 2013.

- Louisiana's 102 digs were just shy of the rally scoring era record 109 recorded against WKU on Nov. 2, 2001.

- Head coach Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot picked up her 128th win as Ragin' Cajuns head coach. She's now eight (8) wins shy of tying Wilo Colon's program-record 136 victories.

Bobcats earns first ever win in Boone
BOONE, N.C. – The Texas State volleyball team defeated Appalachian State 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21) Friday night inside Holmes Convocation Center.

The Bobcats (10-7, 2-1 SBC) became the first Sun Belt Conference team with double-digit victories this season, and they also defeated the Mountaineers (6-11, 1-2 SBC) in Boone for the first time in school history.

Junior Madison Daigle finished with a match-high 13 kills on a .579 attack percentage (2 errors, 19 attacks). Sophomore Megan Porter added 10 kills for TXST. Senior Erin Hoppe directed the offense with 37 assists, while sophomores Amy Pflughaupt (13) and Micah Dinwiddie (11) both registered double-digit digs.

Neither team led by more than three points in the opening period until a late 4-0 run turned a 16-16 draw into a 20-16 advantage for the maroon and gold. Appalachian State could not recover as the Bobcats hung on for the 25-21 triumph.

The win marked the first set victory by Texas State in three all-time trips to Boone. TXST had been swept in both previous road matches against Appalachian State.

The Bobcats started a new streak by capturing the second period by an identical 25-21 margin. The Mountaineers initially came out strong and held a 10-6 edge, but Texas State scored seven of the next eight points to surge ahead 13-11. The sides played to a 15-15 standstill, but a quick 3-0 run gave the momentum back to the Bobcats. App State stayed within two at 21-19, but TXST finished the task by winning four of the last six points.

Texas State closed out the night with a 25-21 victory in the third set, handing the Mountaineers their first sweep at home this season. The home team initially took a 10-6 lead for the second-straight period, but Texas State fought back to pull level at 16-16. Appalachian State even later found a 21-19 advantage, but the maroon and gold won each of the last six points on Hoppe's serve to close down the match.

Lexi Kohut finished the night with 12 kills, while Ashlyn Brown added 32 assists for the Mountaineers.

The Bobcats had match highs in every statistical category, including kills (45-40), attack percentage (.289-.223), assists (45-36), aces (5-2), digs (42-30) and blocks (8-5).

Texas State faces a daunting task in its next outing, as the Bobcats are set to travel to Conway, South Carolina, for a bout with the defending league champions. TXST will meet undefeated Coastal Carolina at 11:30 a.m. (CDT) Oct. 1 inside HTC Center.

Georgia Southern Volleyball Tops Troy 3-0
STATESBORO – Megan Chevalier and Lauren Reichard each pounded down 11 kills, and Georgia Southern won its third straight match, a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-22) Sun Belt decision over Troy in Trojan Arena Friday night.

Reichard added seven blocks and an ace and hit .625 for the Eagles (5-8, 2-1), while Chevalier hit .526 and added two blocks. April Luther finished with 32 assists and three digs.

Jenni Young posted 14 kills to lead Troy (5-12, 0-3), and Savannah Moore tallied eight kills and three blocks.

The story
The Eagles hit over .300 for the second consecutive match, clocking in with a season-high .338. GS also notched 11 blocks as a team and held Troy to .188 hitting.

Troy led the first set by four points early, but with the score tied 19-19 late in the frame, Chevalier scored with a kill and Reichard followed with a block to open a 21-19 lead. The Eagles pushed the margin to 24-21, and Casey McColl finished the set with an ace.

The second and third sets went down to the wire as well. With the score tied 21-21 in the second, Chevalier put down a kill, and Skylar Ball combined with Anna Wenger for a block and followed it with a kill for set point. After Troy scored a point, Chevalier finished the set with a kill.

The Eagles broke a 20-20 tie with four straight points in the third set as Reichard served an ace, and Ball and Luther combined for a block. Troy cut the lead to 24-22 before serving into the net to end the match.

Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"It was a great win tonight for us. We had some great performances by our players, and we led in every statistical area. Lauren (Reichard) and Chev (Megan Chevalier) led the way offensively with double digit kills in three sets hitting .625 and .526 respectively. Those numbers are outstanding."

"April did a great job in finding the hot hand tonight, and the hitting percentage reflected the offense she ran.
What really helped our offensive production was our passing, led by Brooke (Birch) Joscelin (Morrow) and Cathrine (Murray). They were dialed, and their numbers were phenomenal. Our offense starts with them. They did their job."

"We also blocked well tonight, but I believe we can pick our defense up more. We left some opportunities out there with lack of execution."

"Overall, I'm really pleased with all the hard work and preparation that the players put in this week. I'm proud of my staff too for getting them prepared for this weekend. We will enjoy our ride tonight to Mobile and look forward to a tough match tomorrow night. It should be a good one."

Next up
Georgia Southern stays on the road to take on South Alabama tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET.