MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama volleyball clinched a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Louisiana-Monroe on Sunday afternoon at Jag Gym.
The berth is the Jaguars’ first since the 2010 season and the 17th in program history.
Freshmen Lead the Way
Freshman Mechell Daniel recorded her 12th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 13 digs. Eleven of her double-doubles have come against Sun Belt opponents.
Fellow freshman Jessica Lewis had seven kills on 17 attacks, and freshman Mallory Moore added six kills.
The victory was South Alabama’s sixth in its last seven matches and improved the Jaguars to 13-13 overall and 8-8 in Sun Belt play. Louisiana-Monroe fell to 6-26 overall and 2-14 in the conference.
Hendrichovsky: ‘We Won Our Way In’
Head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said the match was her team’s most complete of the league season.
“I think this is the first time during the conference season that we controlled the match pretty much the whole time,” Hendrichovsky said. “Towards the end of the third set, we made a little change to the lineup and lost a few points, but for the most part, we controlled the match the whole time.”
She said the team’s expectations have grown during its late-season run.
“Going into this season, it was a goal for us to make the conference tournament, but with the way we are playing right now, we’ve set higher goals,” Hendrichovsky said. “It’s nice that we didn’t barely get in or back our way in. We actually won our way in and we’re hoping for a decent seed. It could be anybody’s game once you get in the tournament.”
Seeding Still to Be Decided
South Alabama is in a three-way tie with Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas-Arlington for fourth place in the Sun Belt standings.
The Jaguars close the regular season next weekend against conference leader Western Kentucky on Friday and Georgia State on Sunday.
The Sun Belt Conference Tournament will be played Nov. 21-23 at Troy University.
