DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Alabama State University women's volleyball team emerged from its opening set victorious on Sunday afternoon, but saw its edge slowly fall away to the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, who claimed a 3-1 final tally in both teams' second Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) outing of the season inside the Richard V. Moore Gymnasium.
The Hornets (2-13, 0-2 SWAC) came out firing from the start, attacking at a near 30 percent rate in the first frame, but saw the opposing Wildcats (5-7, 1-1 SWAC) come back with a trio of similarly successful sets to claim its first conference victory of the season.
The Lady Hornets fought through an early push with three straight and four of five kills from middle blocker
Kaylen Hines, who proceeded to serve an ace for a two-point advantage. Back-to-back kills from
Lyric Edwards and strong serving runs from
Jaci Moore and
Emani Green stretched the lead to six, and Alabama State was able to carry the run until the end.
Unfortunately, mid-set runs in each of the next three sets helped lift the home team to a four-set victory. Hines had another strong run in a second-frame comeback attempt, while she and
Taylor Williams combined to serve seven of eight ASU points in a strong third-set push by the Lady Hornets. The team made a last-ditch push late in the final set, but BCÂ secured its final six points to wrap up the victory.
Hines anchored the Hornets' attack, leading the way in kills (14), blocks (4) and aces (4).
Taylor Williams also had a quartet of aces, while junior setter
Kamrynn Clay had 28 assists.
Mirra Riddle turned in a nine-dig, two-assist effort, and
Amaya Robinson rounded out the top performers with 13 kills of her own, matching her career best from last weekend.
As a team, the Hornets matched up well with the Wildcats, holding a 12-6 advantage in ace serves and a 49-48 edge in assists. Both teams were nearly even in kills (54-51, BC) and digs (47-46, BC), while ASU was two points shy of matching BC's overall point total (70-68).
The Lady Hornets travel to Huntsville, Alabama, for a meeting with the Alabama A&M Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. inside the AAMU Event Center. It plays two home matches the next week before returning home for its SWAC home opener against Mississippi Valley State on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. inside Lockhart Gymnasium.
