South Alabama’s women’s volleyball team continued its strong performance in the Sun Belt Conference with a 3-0 victory over ULM on Friday night at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, Louisiana. The Jaguars improved their overall record to 8-6 and remained undefeated in conference play at 3-0 after winning by set scores of 25-21, 25-14, and 25-16.
Sarah Gooch led South Alabama offensively, finishing the match without an attack error in her 23 attempts and recording a .565 hitting percentage. Five other Jaguars also posted hitting percentages above .300, with three exceeding .455. As a team, South Alabama achieved a season-high .394 hitting percentage and committed only five attack errors.
The team’s offensive efficiency was the highest since they recorded a .382 percentage against Louisiana on October 24, 2024.
Cambria Gaier contributed nine kills with a .318 hitting percentage. Maradith O’Gorman had six kills and Elyse Heffner added five, both finishing with a .455 hitting percentage. Alexa Strandberg posted seven kills at .462 and joined O’Gorman in tallying five block assists each. The Jaguars held a significant advantage at the net with nine blocks compared to ULM’s one.
ULM fell to 9-8 overall and is winless in conference play at 0-3 after being limited to a .148 hitting percentage by South Alabama’s defense.
Head coach Jesse Ortiz commented on his team’s performance: “I was really proud of our performance tonight. I felt like our group was consistent throughout all three sets. I thought ULM had a great first set. (Us) Getting to 20 kills (in the first set) was amazing. Anna (Loberg) was absolutely on fire. Sarah along with a lot of other players shined for us; it was a total team effort.”
The match marked the 30th meeting between the two teams, with South Alabama now holding a 23-7 lead in the all-time series and having won twelve straight matches against ULM. Coach Ortiz has an undefeated record of 8-0 against the Warhawks.
Several individual milestones were reached during the match:
– Sarah Gooch has now recorded double-digit kills ten times this season and twenty-four times in her career.
– Cambria Gaier has achieved four or more kills in twenty-one sets this fall.
– Anna Loberg has served an ace in nine of her last ten matches.
– Maradith O’Gorman has posted multiple blocks in eight of her last ten matches.
– Alexa Strandberg has tallied three or more blocks in eight of her last ten outings.
South Alabama will conclude its series against ULM on Saturday with another match scheduled for early afternoon.
For additional coverage and updates on South Alabama Volleyball, fans can follow @SouthAlabamaVB on Twitter or visit USAJaguars.com.
