BATON ROUGE, LA. – The Alabama State women's volleyball team bounced back in a defiant manner by sweeping Alabama A&M 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-15) in an elimination game Saturday evening at the Horace Moody Intramural Center during their final match on day one of the SWAC tournament. 

Alabama State went 2-1 on the day. 

The Lady Hornets (16-18 overall) hit .286 as a team including the last two sets hitting over the .300 mark.  And, through the tight spots, Alabama State came through in a game that saw 32 ties and 18 lead changes.
 
Rachel Smith led with 12 kills and eight digs.  Myla Marshall had 10 kills on a .615 hitting percentage and five blocks.  Other hitters Tiara Kelley and Briana Dorsey had seven kills apiece with nine combined blocks. 

Setting them up, Brooke Beasley had 23 assists and six digs while Ellyn Jones added 14 assists, five digs and two aces. 

Alabama State, who is one of four teams remaining in the SWAC Tournament, will play Arkansas-Pine Bluff in another elimination game on Sunday at 10 a.m. from the Horace Moody Intramural Center. 

The winner will move on to play the loser of undefeated tournament teams Southern and Jackson State at 12 p.m. (estimated).  The double-elimination tournament will declare a winner by Sunday night. 

ALABAMA STATE FALLS TO JACKSON STATE IN FIVE-SETTER

BATON ROUGE, LA. – Southwestern Athletic Conference East Division rivals Alabama State and Jackson State met for the third time this season with the most at stake of any of the match ups during the SWAC Tournament on Saturday late afternoon. 

With the winner gaining the preferential spot in the winner's bracket heading into Championship Sunday, emotions ran high and the competition pushed an intense pace. 

The back and forth tempo gave ample opportunity for either team to snatch victory if it could string together a mini-run of points.  The Lady Tigers (11-19 overall) took the opening set only to see Lady Hornets (15-18 overall) storm back to take a two sets to one lead behind a gutsy rally. 

But, a gritty Jackson State team would not go quietly as the Lady Tigers showed tremendous hustle and fight.  In the end, Alabama State lost a nail biter 3-2 (16-25, 25-17, 26-24, 19-25, 7-15) at the Horace Moody Intramural Complex. 

When Alabama State was on, they were of championship caliber hitting .529 as a team in the second set.  Sets one, four and five showed a different story as ASU hit negative team percentages in those sets. 

Kelley led with 12 kills and five blocks, Marshall had eight kills, four blocks and two aces and Smith added eight kills and a team-high 15 digs.   Jones had a team-high 26 assists and Beasley added 14 assists and seven digs. 

In the first set, Alabama State scored the opening three points and then got flat by dropping the next seven points.  The Lady Hornets trailed 17-10 on a series of attack errors and couldn't quite recover in time and dropped the opening set 25-16.

Alabama State got back into it with a series of strong plays on the block with net play from Scott, Bennett and Marshall.   It led 12-7 at the first timeout of the set.  Kelley came down with a kill to push the lead to 17-11.  The Lady Hornets evened it with a 25-17 win. 

The Lady Hornets trailed for the majority of the third set, but found a way to get it done. It trailed at one point 8-5 and then 19-14 later in the match. 

Kelley came up with a big block and Smith came up with a kill to tie it at 21 all.  Jamie Coleman spotted an ace that just bounced in within a foot to give ASU the lead at 22-21. 

The tempo flipped back and forth all the way to the conclusion of the set.  A service error and attack error gave the lead back to Jackson at 23-22.  The Lady Tigers' Taija Thomas knocked down a kill to give them set point. 

But the Lady Hornets retaliated with a Marshall kill that made it 24 all and Dorsey's kill gave the lead back at 25-24. 

Jones scrambled to get into position for the set and found Marshall, who sent a booming spike down to the floor to give ASU the 26-24 win.  Teammates lifted Marshall off the court and fans roared from the bleachers. 

In the fourth set, Jackson State took a 17-11 lead behind juniors Mikayla Rolle and Jenna Siddiqui and held 25-19 to force a fifth-and deciding—set.

In the final set, a couple of errors early put ASU behind and they had to play catch up.  A pair of kills by Kelley and one by Scott cut the deficit to 6-5.  Amber Bennett nearly put one down, but Jackson State showed great hustle to keep it alive and won the point to make it 9-5. 

Bennett got a tip to make it 9-7, but JSU ran off the next six points to close the match. 

LADY HORNETS TURN IT UP TO STOP PRAIRIE VIEW
 
BATON ROUGE, LA. – All season, the Alabama State women's volleyball team discussed the importance of finishing matches strong and even picked up the mantra of "No opportunities wasted."

Lady Hornets coach Penny Lucas-White believed in it so much that the team now wears t-shirts that read "N.O.W." on their backs to serve as a reminder of the tasks at hand.

After an initial slow start in its opening match of the SWAC Tournament with Prairie View A&M, the Lady Hornets fought back and kicked it into high gear for a 3-0 win (25-21, 25-21, and 25-20) on Saturday at the Horace H. Moody Intramural Center. 

Collectively, it was very much a team effort as five Lady Hornets had at least seven kills and six others had multiple blocks and the team hit .248 as a team. 

Marshall, the SWAC Co-Player of the Year, had team bests of nine kills on a .692 hitting percentage and eight blocks.  

Smith, an All-SWAC First Team selection, provided her staple all-around game with eight kills, eight digs, two aces and two blocks.   

Bennett had eight kills and four blocks while Dorsey had eight kills and two blocks.  Scott contributed with seven kills and four blocks. 

Beasley led with a team-high 25 assists and two aces while Jones added 17 assists and was impressive on defense with nine digs. 

The game had a back and forth pace with the match.  There were 20 ties and 10 lead changes. 

In the opening set, Beasley set up Dorsey for a smash to get it within 10-9.  Smith picked up a kill and then the Lady Hornets reeled off three straight points to take their first lead of the match at 14-13.  It stayed tight with the teams being tied at 17, 19, 20 and 21 all.  Scott got up for big kill to give ASU a temporary 20-19 lead. 

Bennett jumped up and put it over the net as a Lady Panther player tipped it out of bounds and Smith came up with a stuff to push it to 23-21.  Marshall and Kelley combined for a block on the right side for set point and a 25-22 first set victory. 

The second set began in the similar fashion to the first with Prairie View holding a slight early lead.  The Lady Hornets began their rally when Kelley fired a shot cross court to cut it to 15-12 causing a timeout. 

Smith came up with an ace to lock the score at 15 all.  Kelley came up again for another kill that deflected off Prairie View and Smith followed with another ace causing coach Penny Lucas-White to yell in excitement and give ASU a 17-15 advantage.  Beasley picked up a service point on a Prairie View error to make it 21-17 in favor of Alabama State.  Bennett sent one down to give a four-point lead and then Kelley closed the set with a kill for another 25-21 triumph. 

In the third set, ASU took an 11-10 lead when Beasley connected with Marshall for a tip point.  Marshall and Kelley combined for a block and then Smith came reigning down for a kill that found open floor. 

The game tightened once again with the score tied at 13 and 14 all.  Jones set up Kelley for a booming spike to give ASU a 17-15 lead.  Bennett soared for a spike to make it a 20-17 ASU lead.  Beasley set up Dorsey for some thunder to give ASU set point.  Kelley closed it 25-20 with a spike. 

#GOHORNETS#