STATESBORO, Ga. | Alabama State dropped an early matchup against host Georgia Southern before defeating USC-Upstate 3-1 to Friday at the Hanner Fieldhouse.

HOW IT HAPPENED

GAME 1

• In the morning matchup, Alabama State took an early 5-1 lead before finding the ball game tied 9-9.
• Trailing 14-12, A'Nylah Cobb (Tallahassee, Fla.) and Lauren Hughes (Lancaster, Texas) earned consecutive kills to keep the Hornets close going into the media break, and Alabama State took an 18-16 lead to force a timeout from Georgia Southern.
• The Hornets continued to control the momentum with their play, forcing another stoppage from the Eagles before ultimately taking the opening set 25-20.
• After a tight start in the second, Georgia Southern made a run to take a double-digit lead, and never trailed in the 25-15 win in the set.
• The Eagles jumped out to another lead to start the third, before three straight errors to spark a Hornet comeback, pulling within two at 11-9.
• Georgia Southern responded with a run of their own, taking a 20-14 lead and forcing an Alabama State timeout before taking the set 25-16.
• Errors plagued the Hornets in the fourth as they found themselves trailing 10-2 early, however Georgia Southern continued their strong play and took the set 25-10 and winning the match 3-1.

GAME 2

• With an early 1-1 tie, sophomore Jada Rhodes (Tallahassee, Fla.) earned three straight service aces to spark an 8-1 run to open the match, forcing a USC-Upstate timeout.
• Alabama State continued to control the set out of the bread, holding a 15-9 lead before a run from the Spartans to pull within four at 18-14.
• USC-Upstate continued their strong play after a called timeout, tying the score at 19-19, before the Hornets took the first set 25-21.
• The second set was a tightly contested battle from the beginning with 17 ties and five lead changes.
• After a 5-5 tie, the teams traded scores with neither gaining a two-point lead until an error from the Spartans followed by an ace from Madison Beasley (Gilbert, Ariz.) gave the Hornets a 19-17 lead.
• USC-Upstate countered back three times over the remainder of the set, with the teams tying again at 25-25; however, another Spartan error followed by a kill from Alexis Ratliff (Atlanta, Ga.) gave the Hornets set two 27-25.
• The third set began in a similar fashion, before USC-Upstate took a 16-11 lead to force the second timeout for Alabama State of the set.
• The Spartans remained hot after the break, finishing the set with another run to win 25-16 to avoid the sweep.
• Alabama State rebounded in the fourth, as the teams fought out another tight set including 16 ties and six lead changes.
• With the Hornets taking the first two-point lead of the set at 19-17, USC-Upstate called their first timeout, and later called their second trailing by four before the final score of 25-20 to give Alabama State the win.

MATCH NOTES

• Junior Kalysia Bates (Phenix City, Ala.) added to her strong play so far this season, earning 13 kills in the Hornets win, her second double figure kill game of the year.
• Emersen Belles (Gilbert, Ariz.) recorded her third double-digit dig performance of the season with against such game in four contests this season.
• Both setters had productive days, with McKenzie Boland (Stockbridge, Ga.) leading on the day with 41 assists combined and maintained a .533 setting percentage in the win over USC-Upstate. Beasley logged 38 assists in two matches, including 25 in the matchup with the Spartans.
• Jada Rhodes logged double-digit kills in both games on Friday, including a season-high 17 kills against Georgia Southern along with 14 in the win over USC-Upstate later in the day.
• Alabama State had several players set season-highs on Friday, with Belles recording 16 digs along with Boland gaining 24 assists against USC-Upstate, while Rhodes logged 17 kills against Georgia Southern.

UP NEXT
Alabama State (1-11) will return to the court on Saturday morning with a match against Mercer scheduled for 10 am (ET) to finish weekend play.

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