The Alabama State volleyball team (1-5) won its first match in the South Carolina State Spikefest Tournament over the Claflin Panthers, 3-0, on Friday, Sept. 2 (25-17, 25-18, 25-16). The Lady Hornets fell to Citadel, 3-2 in their first match of the tournament.

The Lady Hornets came out strong in set one, ASU took a 4-1 lead in the first few minutes of the set.  The two teams went back and forth knotting the set six times before The Citadel Bulldogs jumped out to a four point lead (16-12).  Immediately after a time out called by head coach Penny Lucas-White the ladies returned to the floor and went on a 5-0 run, tying the game once again 20-20.  The Citadel went on to take the set 25-21.

The Lady Hornets went on to take sets two and three by the scores of 25-22 and 25-16.  The fourth and final set was taken by the Bulldogs 25-16 and 15-10. 

In match two of the day against the Claflin Panthers ASU jumped out to a 6-0 advantage after Maya Bell served six consecutive points, including two of her service aces. Claflin quickly crept back into the game off of missed cues by Alabama State.  Both teams went back and forth until Bell once again picked up four points in a row assisting ASU to a 25-17 win of set one.

In set two the Lady Hornets held a 9-3 advantage, never looking back taking set two, 25-18 going up 2-0 on Claflin.

Alabama State won the third set and the match never trailing in the contest and claimed the final set 25-16, for the Lady Hornets first victory of the young season. 

Bell tallied a total of 14 aces along with her 22 kills on the day.  Game two was led by Asia Manning who hit a 14 kill game career high.  She also managed her first double-double with 20 total kills and 17 digs.

The Lady Hornets will face the host team South Carolina State Saturday morning to begin the second day of competition.  Alabama State and Wofford will take the court for the second match of day two of the tournament at 11:00 EST.