ITTA BENA, MISS. | For the sixth-straight year, Alabama State will play in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) tournament final after sweeping Southern (25-21, 25-19, 25-20) Saturday afternoon at R.W. Harrison Complex.
 
The Lady Hornets (22-17) will face Alabama A&M at 3 pm with an NCAA tournament berth at stake. The two rivals split their two matchups this year with the Lady Bulldogs capturing the first match (3-1) before Alabama State grabbed redemption in the second matchup (3-2).
 
Senior Kori Kutsch entered the record books when she picked up two more service aces in the match to bring her career total to 132, tying her for the most all-time at Alabama State. She also notched 37 assists and is second-place among total assists at Alabama State. Fellow senior Candace Martin also continues to climb the record books and is now sixth all-time with 295 blocks and needs just one more to jump inside the top-five.
 
Alabama State dropped the opening point of the first set but used a 5-1 early run to take control. Head coach Penny Lucas-White called a critical timeout after the Jaguars tied the match at 20-20, spurring the Lady Hornets on a 5-1 run to capture the stanza behind timely kills from Bayle' Bennett, Payten Clark and Krysta Medearis. Medearis posted her best set of the tournament with five kills and Kutsch amassed 17 assists. Alabama State outhit the Jaguars .140 to .056.
 
After falling behind 6-9 in the ensuing set, Medearis sparked a 4-1 run with two kills and a block to knot the set at 10-10. Bennett took over from there, accruing five kills before Cottingham closed the set with her fourth kill. The Lady Hornets hit at a .262 clip in the frame compared to .207 for Southern.
 
Alabama State vaulted out to an early 5-0 lead in the final frame but saw its lead vanquish at 9-10 behind a rejuvenated Jaguars' effort. The Lady Hornets took advantage of four consecutive Jaguars' errors to regain the lead and put an exclamation mark on the match when Martin blocked a Jaguars' attack for the final point.
 
Medearis led all Lady Hornets with 12 kills and junior Bayle' Bennett recorded another double-double behind 11 kills and 10 digs. Kayla Torres had 15 digs to lead the defense.
 
 
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