BATON ROUGE, La.  – It was a brisk start for the two-time defending SWAC champion Alabama State volleyball team in the 2015 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Tournament.

The Lady Hornets puffed their chests in an energetic quarterfinal match worthy of championship play by earning a hard-fought 3-0 win (25-20, 25-20, 25-13) against the West's top seed Texas Southern on Friday evening at the Horace Moody Intramural Center.

"I'm so proud of those girls," said ASU head coach Penny-Lucas White.

"They raised the level. They played very focused and put their actions up to the T.  They need to get a good night's rest and do it again tomorrow against Jackson State. 

Alabama State (20-13) has already ensured itself that its path to the championship will be at least two rounds shorter than it was a season ago when it lost its second match on day one and had to win six matches to capture the crown. 

"The girls reinforced how important this match was, went in, did the job and had fun," Lucas-White said. 

Still in play is the opportunity to take it with just four matches.  

Winners in 14 of its past 15 matches, the Lady Hornets advance to take on a hot Jackson State team (13-21), who swept both Alabama A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, on Saturday at 1 p.m. in SWAC Tournament Semifinal.

By comparison, JSU has won 12 of its last 14 matches and split the season series with ASU at one match apiece.

The venue will switch to Cliford Seymour Gym. 

Live stats can be followed here: http://www.swac.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27400&ATCLID=210401695

Against TSU, Rachel Smith and Chelsey Scott both provided a huge lift throughout the match, getting good springs on their jumps and solid contact. 

Each fired up crowd-pleasing cheers with many thumping hits accounting for their 13 kills apiece.

TSU had plenty of big hits of their own to match, but committed far too many errors (26) to survive the onslaught. 
  
Kori Kutsch dished out 34 assists, Tiara Kelley added seven kills and Jamie Coleman led the team with 12 digs. 

Fittingly, Amber Bennett picked up career kill No. 1,000 in her hometown of Baton Rouge, La.

She is the second active Lady Hornet to reach the 1,000 career kills plateau after Smith, who accomplished the feat back on Nov. 10 at UAB. 

Texas Southern (14-18, 7-1 SWAC) was led by Audriana Carson, who had seven kills.

SWAC Preseason Player of the Year and All-SWAC First Team selection Kali Fluke was held to just five kills on a .167 hitting percentage. 

In the first round, Alabama State breezed past the West's No. 3 seed Prairie View A&M 3-1 (25-11, 25-13, 24-26, 25-18) at the Horace Moody Intramural Center on the campus of Southern University. 

Myla Marshall and Scott both came out firing, Kutsch flirted with a career-high of 43 assists (two shy of that total) while liberos Coleman and Scout Wonsang shored up the back line of defense with more than half the team's digs total (34 of 64). 

Marshall finished with 15 kills on a .481 hitting percentage to go with a team-high seven total blocks, Scott had 13 kills, four digs and four blocks and Coleman led with a team-high 24 digs (three shy of her career-best). 

Alabama State added to their recent series success with Prairie View by winning for the fifth time in their last six head-to-head meetings against them.

ASU coasted in the opening two sets. 

In set one, the Lady Hornets reeled off nine consecutive points largely with Wonsang behind the service line, who had two aces during the run.

ASU put together another wave of points when it was able to score six straight to take a 19-6 advantage. 

Marshall and Scott each had a kill during that run along with an ace by Smith. 

In the second set, ASU fell behind 6-4 before rallying to win 15 of the next 19 points.

The third set see-sawed back and forth before the Lady Panthers won eight of the last 12 points to force a fourth set. 

The Lady Panthers' Randi Hunter came alive by collecting five kills during the close out. 

ASU had a stretch where it won five straight points to take a 17-12 advantage.

Smith, Marshall and Scott each had kills down the stretch to secure it.

The Lady Panthers (8-24) were led by Hunter, who had a game-best 17 kills and Calli Jordan Hensch, who added a dozen kills. 

#GOHORNETS#