Montgomery, Ala. – Alabama State volleyball continues its eight-game road trip when the team makes the trek to Huntsville to face in-state conference rival Alabama A&M on Friday night at 7 p.m.
 
The Lady Hornets dropped a tight 3-2 (16-25, 25-17, 19-25, 25-19, 14-16) decision to Jackson State on Sunday evening to begin the road swing. After the contest, Alabama State fell to 6-17 on the season and 3-5 in Southwestern Athletic Conference action.
 
In the match, senior Bayle' Bennett paced the offense with her 11th double double of the season in a team-high 13 kills and 19 digs alongside two solo blocks and a service ace. Junior E'laisah Young followed behind with 12 kills on a .474 hitting percentage.
 
Defensively freshman Emersen Belles was on a tear as she recorded a game- and career-high 34 digs alongside a career-high five assists and a game- and career-high tying three service aces. Additionally, Belles received 31 serves and only committed one error.
 
On the season, Bennett leads the way with 256 total kills averaging 2.91 per set alongside the second-most digs on the team with 233 (2.65/set) and a team-high 24 service aces. Fellow senior Krysta Medearis follows behind with 184 kills on a .252 hitting percentage with the third-most blocks on the team at 33.
 
Young poses as an all-around threat as she has 154 kills with a blistering .335 hitting percentage, 14 service aces, 48 digs and a team-high 56 blocks including 15 solos. Defensively, Belles leads the team with 306 digs (3.45/set) while Beasley paces the offense with 467 assists (5.31/set).
 
Scouting Alabama A&M
Alabama A&M is coming off a 3-0 (25-10, 25-22, 25-19) sweep over Jackson State on Monday night to improve to 11-11 on the season and 7-1 in conference action. Monday's sweep marked the Bulldogs' fourth consecutive conference sweep.
 
In the match, Terra Brooks led the Lady Bulldogs in kills with eleven, while also adding ten digs for her fifth double-double of the year. Megan Evans recorded her seventh double-double of the season, finishing with team-highs of 20 assists and 14 digs.
 
On the season, Alabama A&M is the SWAC leader in hitting percentage (.231) and kills per set (11.67), while they are second in opponent hitting percentage (.200), assists per set (10.1/set), blocks per set (1.78/set) and digs per set (13.9/set).
 
Maya Evans leads the team with 164 kills on a .424 hitting percentage averaging 2.38 kills per set while Megan Evans paces the offense with 576 assists (8.35/set) setting the team to a .231 hitting percentage. Defensively, Alana Cox has a team-high 40.0 blocks including eight solos and Maci Battle has a team-high 240 digs averaging 3.81 per set.
 
Last Meeting
In the last meeting between the teams, Alabama State cruised past Alabama A&M, 3-1 (25-13, 25-15, 22-25, 25-19) to claim its third consecutive SWAC Championship on Nov. 18, 2018 in Itta Bena, Miss.
 
Then-junior Bayle' Bennett was named the tournament's most outstanding player following her third double-double of the weekend (20 kills, 10 digs, four service aces, .312 attack percentage). Then-junior Krysta Medearis joined her on the all-tournament team with 17 kills.
 
Then-seniors Candace Martin (eight kills, five blocks) and Kori Kutsch (47 assists, 10 digs, three kills, one service ace) capped off their SWAC career with monumental outings and were also awarded spots on the all-tournament team.
 
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