MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In a return to the friendly confines of Lockhart Gymnasium, lively bunches of fans packed the sidelines as the Alabama State University women's volleyball team welcomed the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) leading Alabama A&M to town and defeated the Bulldogs, 3-1 Wednesday evening in the first of three conference matchups this week.
The Hornets (5-16, 3-5 SWAC) had this game circled against its neighbors up north, and while the Bulldogs (14-9, 7-2 SWAC) held the top spot in the SWAC coming into Montgomery, the Black and Gold ran them out of town with a heart-pounding four-set contest. AAMU claimed the opening set, 25-18, while ASU turned things around with wins of 27-25, 28-26 and a lengthy, 35-33 final set that made it worth the wait and price of admission in the end.
The first wave of points went the way of the visitors, but the crowd injected a new energy into the Hornets as it forced the Bulldogs into a myriad of errors to make it a four-point game, then rattled off four straight kills and added a block at the end to take a one-point lead. From there, the opposing errors dwindled, as Alabama A&M utilized powerful kills on stellar rallies to secure a seven-point first-set win.
The teams kept it tight with seven straight kills early on, and while both teams were able to win two straight points at different periods, neither could pull away any further than that until the Hornets mustered up five straight points with a stretch of attacking errors on the Bulldogs. Undeterred, AAMU was able to utilize the technical timeout at the 15th point to make a plan to draw even at 16 all, but it couldn't get ahead until it was 24-23. On the brink of elimination, Bama State came through and allowed just one more point on its way to a thrilling second-set victory.
Both teams got on the board in the third set with clean kills, and the Lady Hornets quickly swarmed the Bulldogs for a 7-3 lead to force an early timeout. Alabama A&M would draw closer, but the Hornets continued defending its lead with kills, including a kill and a succeeding block by
Lyric Edwards to make it a four-point lead. From there, misplays from the Hornets side allowed its opponent to draw even at 15, but the squad, backed by its home court environment, eked out another tight, third-set win to go up, two sets to one.
Tight calls favoring the Bulldogs opened the fourth set, and it raced out to a six-point lead after three straight points to go up 14-8. ASU responded by forcing its opponents into errors to bring it within two, and AAMU had a pair of kills and forced a home team error to go up by five. Alabama State held strong as it battled back to tie and take the slight edge, but neither team could get a two-point margin for an extended period of time as the score kept going beyond the 25 point limit for the third straight set.
After the score reached 25 all, both teams played near perfection, making just one error each until the end.
Kaylen Hines had a cluster of kills for the 28th and 29th points, while
Alexis Williams followed by scoring the 30th, 31st and 32nd points. AAMU responded with a point to force set point, 33-32, but Alabama State notched a pair of kills and an error for three straight points and the victory.
The match saw four players record double-digit kills, with
Kaylen Hines leading the way with 17 and
Mikalah Davis' 14 marking her third such night this season and first in a month. Star setter
Kamrynn Clay set a new season high with 56 assists – one shy of her career-best – while
Taylor Williams posted a double-double with 25 digs and 11 kills, the former leading the team.
Alexis Williams rounded out the quartet of kill leaders with 16 in a dominating victory.
The two teams were tight in many statistical categories, as they each had 69 kills and were nearly identical in defensive efficiency numbers. AAMU had the edge in set assists (67-64), service aces (4-2) and hitting percentage, while ASU held the edge in digs (81-70) and blocks (11-5).
The Lady Hornets have a busy road trip ahead of them, playing a pair of games across three days, first against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Friday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m.) and then against Grambling State (Sunday, Oct. 25 at noon). It returns home the following week for its final October match against Florida A&M on Friday, Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. inside Lockhart Gymnasium.
