MOBILE, Ala. – Junior Hadley Swartz fired a team-high nine kills as the ULM volleyball team was swept (25-15, 25-15, 25-18) Saturday night by South Alabama inside Jag Gym.
“I don't recognize the team that came on this road trip. Hopefully the team I have had most of the season is back in Monroe waiting for me,” head coach Patrick Hiltz said. “We are still in a position to attain our season goal but we are now much farther away from it than we were before. This coaching staff will work overtime to get this team back to playing the way it was before.”
ULM (11-10, 2-5 SBC) was forced to play from behind early in the first set after USA (10-8, 4-3 SBC) scored seven of the opening 10 points. Jaguar attacker Kolby Meeks later smashed a kill that started a five-point USA run to push the lead to 13-5.
Later in the set trailing 15-7, the Warhawks continued to struggle to slow down the Jaguar attack. USA ripped off four straight points with the help of a kill each from Mechell Daniel and Sarah Richardson followed by an Emily Hundt service ace.
The Warhawks saved three set points at 24-12 behind the service of sophomore Bayleigh Hoffman before Jaguar attacker Nikki Gittens iced the set with a kill. The Jags swung at a .478 clip on 14 kills with three different attackers contributing with at least three kills.
The second set came to a three-point standstill before Daniel lifted the Jaguars during a four-point run with two kills. The Warhawks responded with three points of their own behind kills from Swartz and Taylor Zaeske to cut the lead to one at 8-7.
The turning point in the set came at 10-9 USA when the Jaguars put together a 6-0 run taking advantage of five ULM errors. The Warhawks never could recover and after a Swartz kill saved set point at 24-15, Gittens again closed out the set with a slam.
The Jaguars utilized strong serving early in the third to score four of the first five by putting the Warhawks out of system offensively. ULM put together a three-point run later in the set capped off by a kill each from Zaeske and fellow junior Ana Ribeiro to stay alive in the set at 8-6.
After a Swartz kill made it a one-point match at 12-11, USA broke through with four straight points behind two kills and a block from Daniel. The Warhawks scored two in a row later in the set to tighten the match at 21-18, but the Jaguars closed the match by scoring the final three points.
ULM was limited to a .056 (29-23-107) clip as Pawlik and Zaeske added seven and five kills respectively. Zaeske (11) and freshman Tara Jenkins (13) each finished with double-digit digs.
The Jaguars finished with a .333 (41-9-96) clip behind a match-high 15 kills from Daniel (.424) and 10 kills from Gittens (.625). USA setter Emma Anderson recorded the lone double-double of the match after dishing out 33 assists and digging 11 ULM attacks.
The Warhawks return to competition Thursday versus Georgia Southern inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum to begin a three-match home stretch. First serve is set for 6 p.m.
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