Box Score The Alabama State University volleyball team captured its second consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference Eastern Division title after a 3-2 victory (25-27, 26-24, 21-25, 26-24, 15-8) over rival Alabama A&M.
"I loved tonight's competition, we knew from the start that we were going to have to swing our way out of this one against a tough and well coached Alabama A&M program, " said head coach
Penny Lucas-White.
Chelsey Scott led the team with 18 kills. She was joined in double digit kills by
Rachel Smith 16,
Amber Bennett 10 and
Tiara Kelley 10 as the Lady Hornets hit .277 as a team.
Brooke Beasley led the team with 33 assists and
Ellyn Jones added 30 while
Scout Wonsang had 16 digs.ASU's defense played a part in the victory as they held AAMU to a .205 hitting percentage while recording 8.5 total blocks.
Sparks flew out of the gate as the first set saw the two team's battle through a see-saw of scores before the Bulldogs edged out the Hornets by the score of 27-25 to take the early lead.
AAMU (9-18 3-3 SWAC)took an early 6-4 run in the early stages of the second set. ASU would then, claw their way back into the contest capturing their first lead at 10-9. ASU went on to extend its lead to 21-15 but, the pesky Bulldogs would not lay down as they went on a short run to even up the score at 21-21. As they have been doing all season the Lady Hornets would not go down without a fight as they outscored AAMU 5-3 down the final stretch to acquire set two's victory 26-24.
The third set of the game showcased AAMU jumping out to a 3-0 lead. The Hornets fought back and took the lead 10-7. After a couple of ties the Bulldogs scored consecutive points to go up 16-13. ASU battled back in dramatic fashion to even the score 18-18. With no avail AAMU outscored ASU 7-3 to take the set 25-21.
Set four of the game featured 14 tie scores with the last being at 24. From there ASU grabbed the final two points and won the set from AAMU 26-24.
In set five ASU held an early 7-4 lead, after a court swap the Hornets scored three consecutive points to go up 11-5. The Hornets from there fought hard and closed out the set with a 15-8 victory capturing the Eastern Division Crown.
"Alabama A&M is a phenomenal team and came to play tonight but, overall I'm glad we pulled out the victory," Lucas-White said. "We plan to head into the final stretch of our regular season and will be ready to improve for the upcoming SWAC tournament."
The Lady Hornets(12-16 6-0 SWAC) will finish out their regular season play on their home court with a match up against UAB on Nov.11th and a pair of SWAC contest first, against the Braves of Alcorn State on Nov.14th followed by the Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State University on Nov.15th. All three matches will begin at 7p.m.
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