JACKSON, Miss. – The Alabama State University women's volleyball team took to the road one final time on Sunday afternoon, bouncing back from a first-set defeat by claiming the next three sets and picking up a 3-1 victory over the Jackson State Tigers inside the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) battle.
The Hornets (8-19, 6-8 SWAC) continue to vie for one of the final spots in the SWAC postseason tournament, facing one of the top teams in the conference and utilizing some strong efforts to take down the Tigers (13-14, 9-6Â SWAC), who lost a winning streak that was at four straight matches while dipping below a .500 overall record and seeing ASU collect its third consecutive win in the series. The set results were 25-21 (JSU), 25-22, 25-26 and 25-20 (ASU).
JSU never trailed in the opening set, getting out to a four-point lead and limiting Alabama State in its efforts to gain an edge. Even as
Alexis Williams and
Lyric Edwards landed late kills to open a four-point rally by ASU, the Tigers ended things on the fifth set point with a kill for a four-point win.
The second frame was the complete opposite, started by none other than star setter
Kamrynn Clay at the service line, who had a pair of service aces and forced the opposition into an attack error for a three-point advantage early on. Bama State would only build on that, going on a four-point spree to make it a 13-5 contest towards the halfway point of the match. The Tigers, however, stormed back with an 8-3 run to make it a three-point contest. ASU called a timeout to stop the bleeding and used its second just five points later; despite JSU holding much of the momentum, it never took the lead and held off the threat for a three-point win.
The third set opened with plenty of errors, and while each team could realistically have the edge from their second set performances, it was ASU that jumped out to a three-point lead, which it followed with a 7-2 run to go up, 12-6. Edwards and
Taylor Williams continued on the attack throughout the frame, keeping the Hornets ahead, while a pair of three-point pushes got the visitors past the finish line with six kills and a pair of aces.
Set four was much more competitive on both sides, as each team went back-and-forth for most of the frame, aside from a five-point run on a service series from
Ava O'Hare and aided by a pair of Clay kills. After an 18-18 tie, two ASU points forced a JSU timeout as the home squad attempted to stop the bleeding, and while it recorded the next point, the Hornets wrapped up the win with a 5-1 finish with an ace and a trio of kills.
Clay had 53 sets for the third time this season and five aces, both team-high totals. Libero
Mirra Riddle had 21 digs, six assists and a pair of aces, while Edwards and
Kaylen Hines had four blocks apiece. Three ASU student-athletes reached triple-digit kill totals, led by
Alexis Williams with 18, while Hines (15) and Edwards (12) also had impactful attacking days in a winning effort.
Alabama State led all team statistics across the board, including points (84-64), kills (64-56), aces (12-6), blocks (8-2), assists (63-54) and digs (52-47). Additionally, while it did drop an early set, it led attacking efficiency in each of the four sets by a wide margin, while committing just two errors in each of the first three sets.
The Lady Hornets conclude its season with two home games in Lockhart Gymnasium, first on Friday evening against Alcorn State (Nov. 13 at 6 p.m.) and then against Southern on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 15 at noon).
