Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.—It took five sets, but Jackson State University was able to beat Alabama State 3-2 in an exciting Southwestern Athletic Conference match.
Rachel Smith had a career-high 14 kills and
Chelsey Scott had nine, but it would not be enough for the Lady Hornets in the five-set loss.
JSU won the first two games and looked as if they were going to run away with the conference match up, but Alabama State would not go away. The Lady Hornets rallied to win the next two sets before Jackson State was able to put the game away in the fifth and final set.
Set one was all JSU as they jumped out on top of ASU 7-1 and never looked back. The Lady Tigers hit .429 in the game while ASU only hit .103 in the 25-15 JSU win.
Set two was much different, as the two teams battled back and forth and with the score even at 17, the Lady Hornets made the first run, going up 22-19. After a Jackson State timeout, the Lady Tigers were able to gain control of the serve and took advantage of three consecutive hitting errors by the Lady Hornets to go on for the 25-22 win.
“I was not happy about losing those first two sets,” Head Coach
Penny Lucas-White said. “They are a very good team, but we were not ready to play and it showed. You cannot give a good team like that any extra opportunities by not being ready to play.”
After the 10 minute break between the second and third sets, ASU looked like a different team. The Lady Hornets were able to go on a small run, breaking a five-all tie and pushed the lead out to 15-8 in the third set. JSU would never get any closer that six points as ASU would break through in the win column for the 25-18 win. ASU hit .222 in the game and held the league's best offense to only .067 hitting.
The Lady Hornets forced a fifth set with a 25-18 win in set four. ASU broke a 9-all tie with a 4-0 run to go up 13-9 and it never trailed again. Jackson State would cut the lead to three at 19-16, but ASU would pull away in the win.
Jackson State was not quite ready to give in to the upstart Lady Hornets, as it jumped out on top of ASU 6-0 before the Lady Hornets could regain the serve and get on the scoreboard. JSU went on to lead 8-2 on the cross over. After that the Lady Tigers got on a roll and did not stop until they completed the 15-3 win.
“I was happy with the way we went into the defending conference champions home and came from a two-set down deficit to force a fifth set,” Lucas-White said. “What I was not happy about was the way we played in the fifth set. Again, give the credit to Jackson State for coming out and jumping on us in the fifth set, but we had plenty of chances to regain the serve and score some points and we did not. We don't have a lot of time to sit around and mull over this game because we have a tough California State University Bakersfield team coming in tomorrow and Sunday.”
ASU is now 4-20 overall and 1-2 in the conference while JSU moves to 12-11 and 2-0.
The Lady Hornets will not have a lot of time to rest as they travel back to Montgomery Friday night and will host California State University Bakersfield on both Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow's game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and Sunday's matinee will begin at 1 p.m.
-GO HORNETS-
