South Alabama Sports Update 2009-09-18
Baseball
Due to wet field conditions South Alabama head baseball coach Steve Kittrell has been forced to postpone the start of fall practice until Sunday afternoon at the earliest. The Jags were expected to start their 45-day practice period Thursday afternoon. Kittrell made the decision to postpone due to NCAA rules that only allow 45 days for team workouts during the fall, and those begin with the teams first official practice.
Depending on the weather, the Jags may start practice on Sunday at 2pm.
Basketball
Men’s
The matchups have been announced for the second annual South Alabama Thanksgiving Classic. Coach Ronnie Arrow announced that Utah Valley, Georgia State and Alcorn State will play in the tournament on November 25 and 26 at the Mitchell Center.
Wednesday, Georgia State and Utah Valley will begin the tournament at 5pm followed by South Alabama and Alcorn State at 7pm. On Thursday, the consolation game will start at 2pm and the Championship game will begin at 4pm.
Women’s
Dr. Joel Erdmann, South Alabama’s Athletic Director, announced on Tuesday that Lady Jag coach Rick Pietri has received a contract extension through the 2013 season. Last season the Lady Jags finished 21-11, which is the first back to back 20-win season by the Lady Jags in 21 years. They also advanced to the semifinal round of the conference tournament for the first time since 2003 and only the second time since 1989.
On February 14th, Pietri grabbed his 150th career win at the collegiant level and ranks second in overall wins in South Alabama’s all-time coaching chart with 154 and ranks first in Sun Belt victories with 75.
Soccer
Kickoff of Friday’s soccer match between USA and Georgia State has been moved up from 6pm to 3:30pm due to a change in venue. Originally scheduled for a 6pm kickoff at GSU’s home field, they have moved to Atlanta Silverback’s Park due to unplayable conditions. Siverback’s Park has synthetic turf similar to USA’s football practice field.
Coach Varga was very grateful to head football coach Joey Jones for allowing the Soccer team to also use the football practice field to practice this week. He said, “We were very fortunate Coach Jones allowed us to practice on their field this week. I’m very grateful he allowed us that opportunity.”
Volleyball
This weekend will be the final tournament of the regular season for the Lady Jaguars before they begin their Sun Belt schedule. They are traveling to Prairie View A&M for the Lady Panther Invitational and will take on Nicholls State at 1pm on Friday then will take on Prairie View A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday.
South Alabama Sports Update 2009-09-13
Football
Coach Jones and his staff will continue with with preseason camp-like practice schedule this week before going into game week practice starting Monday, September 21. This weeks practice will continue preparing the offense for the rest of the season by continuing to add more passing plays to the playbook that will translate to more passing during game situations.
There were several upsets around the nation in week two of college football play. Several teams came off big opening week games to fall in their second game. With three weeks between the Jags first game against Hargrave Academy and their second game against Army Prep.
Army Prep lost to the JV team from West Point 21-14 but came back for a win in their second game of the season in a high scoring affair against Hudson Valley Community College 46-43. Army Prep will play Nassau Community College this weekend before their trip to Mobile to face the Jaguars.
Volleyball
The Jags opened the Jaguar Classic with a loss against Southern Mississippi on Friday but came back to win two matches on Saturday beating Nicholls State 3-1 (17-25, 28-26. 25-10, 25-13) and Jackson State 3-2 (25-12, 20-25, 25-18, 16-25, 15-8).
These two wins on Saturday improved the Jaguars record to 6-4. They will close out their non-conference tournament schedule next weekend in Prairie View, Texas for the Lady Panther Invitational. The Jags will take on Nicholls State again on Friday Sept. 18 in the opening day of the Lady Panther Invitational. Then Friday, September 25 the Jags will open their regular season SBC play at home when they host Florida Atlantic at 5pm in Jaguar Gym.
Soccer
The Jaguars match with Stetson that was scheduled for Sunday was postponed due to lightning and eventually cancelled due to an unplayable surface due to heavy rain. The Jags will next play Georgia State in Atlanta on Friday, September 18 at 6pm followed by a trip to Columbia, South Carolina for their final non-conference match of the season when they play South Carolina on Sunday, September 20.
The Jags will begin their SBC scheude in Jonesboro, Arkansas when they take on Arkansas State on Friday, September 25.
Jaguar Volleyball Split Two Matches On Saturday, Finish Second In Tournament
The lady Jaguars volleyball team continued play in the Lady Techster Invitational tournament in Ruston, Louisiana on Saturday. After two opening day wins on Friday, the jags split their two matches on the second day. Their first match was against Tennessee-Martin which they won 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 25-18).
However they dropped their evening game to the tournament host Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters 3-0 (25-20, 27-25, 25-22). Louisiana Tech won the tournament championship with South Alabama capturing second place for the tournament. Lindsay Schwartz and Jennica Hagberg were named to the all-tournament team.
The Lady Jags (3-1) will play again on Friday and Saturday when they head to Athens, Georgia for the Georgia Dawg Invitational. The Jags open the tournament against Tennessee State on Friday then will face Duke and Georgia on Saturday.
Lady Jaguar Volleyball Start Season, Soccer Team Takes On #5 Florida State
Volleyball
The South Alabama volleyball team traveled to Louisiana for the Lady Techster Tournament to open play in the 2009 season. On Friday, they notched two wins to begin the season downing Arkansas-Pine Bluff 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-13) and Centenary 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-19).
The Lady Jags will continue play on Saturday when they play Tennessee-Martin at 2pm followed by Louisiana-Tech at 7pm with live stats available at www.usajaguars.com.
Soccer
Also on Friday, the Lady Jaguars soccer team traveled to Tallahassee to take on #5 ranked Florida State. The Jags came out on the losing end, falling 8-0 to the Lady Seminoles.
This evens their record for the season at 1-1-0 with their next game on Sunday, August 30 at Auburn Universtiy against the Lady Tigers starting at 2pm.