MOBILE, Ala.  –  It was a rather encouraging weekend for the Alabama State volleyball team in that it showed that the team has the gumption to play competitively against teams from bigger conferences on the road.

Despite running a record of 1-2 over the weekend, the Lady Hornets (4-9) pulled positive takeaways from the matches in moving forward for the rest of this 2015 campaign.

Of note, ASU defeated Louisiana Tech, a team ranked higher in RPI, and also pushed both Texas A&M Corpus Christi (No. 167 RPI in 2014) and host Central Arkansas (No. 122 RPI) to longer matches. 

Alabama State led TAMCC two sets to none and nearly forced a fifth set with UCA after holding a 23-20 lead in the fourth.

On Tuesday night, ASU gets another challenge as it prepares to face South Alabama (5-6), a member of the Sun Belt Conference, on the road with first serve scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Lady Hornets have emerged as the best all-around, most consistent team in the SWAC with the most wins. 

ASU leads the conference in hitting percentage as a team (.160), holds the lowest rate for opponents hitting percentage (.209) and also is tops in assists (9.39 per set), kills (10.2 per set), blocks (2.37 per set).

The team ranks second in service aces (0.94 per set), trailing just Alcorn State (1.12 per set) thus far this season. 

Lady Hornets senior Amber Bennett has been a big factor for part of the rankings jump as she compiled a team-best 33 kills on a .300 hitting percentage to go along with a team-high 18 total blocks in the previous three matches.

Bennett was named to the University of Central Arkansas All-Tournament team. 

The Lady Jaguars are coming off a four-set defeat to Appalachian State this past Saturday. 

Junior opposite side  hitter Mechell Daniel led USA with 13 kills, sophomore setter Emily Anderson had 35 assists while senior libero Emily Hundt had a team-high 12 digs. 

LEADERS

Alabama State: Myla Marshall 89 kills (2.43 per set), Kori Kutsch 223 assists (4.55 per set), Scout Wonsang 147 digs (3.34 per set), Marshall 54 total blocks (1.12 per set), Rachel Smith and Riley MacDonald 11 aces (0.23 per set).

South Alabama: Mechell Daniel 143 kills (3.33 per set), Emma Anderson 382 assists (8.88 per set), Emily Hundt 134 digs (3.12 per set), Sarah Richardson 39 total blocks (0.91 per set), Arissa Chappell 15 aces (0.35 per set).

LIVE LINKS

Live stats:  http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=100832

Live streaming video: http://www.usajaguars.com/watch/?Archive=534
                                                                                                        #GOHORNETS#