Box Score Alabama State (4-19) finished second at the Southern University Invitational Volleyball Tournament by defeating Texas Southern (8-11) 3-1 and losing to SWAC Preseason Favorite Jackson State (11-11) 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 19-25).
 
Chelsey Scott had a strong day with 30 total kills in the two games and Amber Bennett finished with 15.  Brooke Beasley had 71 assists on the day and also had16 digs.
 
In set one of the championship game, neither team could build much of a lead until Jackson State was able to pull out to a 22-15 lead only to see ASU cut it to 22-20 and again 23-21 before the more experienced Tigers was able to pull out the 25-21 win.
 
Scott had three kills, but the Lady Hornets had their worse hitting game of the tournament at -.045 while JSU was able to hit .216.
 
ASU built a 16-9 lead in set two only to see JSU come back and take a 20-17 lead and just when it seemed ASU was out of it they were able to outscore JSU 8-3 down the stretch to win the set 25-23.  ASU hit the ball better at a .200 hitting percentage, and they held JSU to only a .068 hitting percentage.
 
The third set much like the first, saw the teams battle with JSU moving out to a 19-13 lead.  ASU aome storming back to cut it to 20-19, but JSU pulls out the win down the stretch 25-21.  JSU hit the ball better at .233 while the Lady Hornets only managed a .094.
 
JSU was able to win the fourth set 25-19, but the game was much closer than the final score indicates.  JSU hit .190 for the game and ASU hit .069.  Scott had a game-high 17 kills to lead the Lady Hornets.
 
To get into the championship match the Lady Hornets downed Texas Southern (9-11) 3-1 (26-24, 25-17, 14-25, 25-22) in the first semifinal game of the day.
 
Anniiya Robinson had a career-high 13 kills and Scott joined her with also 13 kills.  Amber Bennett had 10 kills and Brooke Beasley had a game-high 42 assists.  Ravenn Hill had 12 digs and the Lady Hornets hit .313.
 
The first set against Texas Southern was a set of runs as ASU jumped out to a 10-4 lead only to see TSU score six of the next seven points and cut the lead to 11-10.  ASU then went back up 19-13 and again TSU came back and outscore ASU 9-3 to even the score at 22.
 
With the score even at 24, Rachel Smith was able to come away with consecutive kills to end the set and give ASU a 26-24 win.
 
Robinson had seven kills in the opening set as ASU hit .395 in the game.
 
After the two teams battled back and forth through the first six points in the second set, TSU went on a 6-0 run to lead 12-6.  From there it was all ASU as the Lady Hornets outscored TSU 19-5 to win going away 25-17.
 
ASU continued to hit the ball well hitting .343.  Myla Marshall and Scott led the way with four kills each and Smith added two more.
 
Set three was all TSU as they pulled away for a 25-14 win to send the game to a fourth set.  The Lady Hornets struggled getting the ball down in the set as they only hit .212, which was their worse hitting performance of the tournament.  It was also the first set the Lady Hornets had lost in the tournament.
 
The third set saw ASU fall behind 10-5 as TSU continued their strong play of the third set into the fourth.  It was then the Lady Hornets caught fire and outscored TSU 20-12 the rest of the way.  Bennett led the way with six kills and Scott had five.
 
Following the tournament Myla Marshall received All-Tournament honors.
 
“I could not be more pleased with how we performed not only today but in this tournament,” Head Coach Penny Lucas-White said.  “We won three of the four games and we played the SWAC preseason pick to win the conference head-to-head and even took a game off of them for the only time in the tournament.”
 
“We hit the ball well and we played better defense.  We did not win the final game against JSU, and I am concerned with some things I saw us do and saw us not do and we will work on that next week.  But for this team to come home winning three of the four games was very exciting.  We still have a lot of work but we want to carry this momentum into the rest of the conference season.”
 
These two teams will meet again as they both jump back into conference play on Friday Oct. 12 when ASU travels to Jackson, Miss., to face, Jackson State.  The game is set to begin at 7 p.m.