Volleyball Splits Day One Of SWAC Round-Up

JACKSON, Miss. – TSU opened the SWAC East Round-up at Jackson State University with a split on Friday. The Tigers defeated Alcorn State 3-0 before falling to Alabama A&M 3-0.

TSU defeated Alcorn State 25-14, 25-20 and 25-21 to open the round-up as Alexis Austin led the team offensively with 14 kills. The Tigers had no trouble in the first set as they took control with a 7-0 run to win the first set. Set two was a mirror image of set one as TSU outscored ASU 10-3 midway through as they held off the Braves before a back-and-forth third set which saw ASU draw to within 21-20 before a late kill by Nia Stone and two ASU attack errors sealed the win.

Breyanna York added 15 assists while Valencia Grayson had 10 digs. Atira Jells and Danielle Lilley added 11 and 10 kills, respectively.

TSU fought hard but came up short in the nightcap against Alabama A&M.

AAMU jumped out to an 8-1 lead to take control early but TSU rallied back and closed to within two points on three occasions late in the set. Down 22-20, AAMU put away set one with two late kills by Alana Cox to halt the TSU rally.

Set two saw an early 7-6 TSU deficit grow to 12-6 after a 5-0 surge by AAMU. AAMU controlled the set from that point as the closest TSU would draw was 20-14 en route to the 25-15 loss. The final set was more of the same as AAMU led early (9-3) to keep TSU in comeback mode. Down 21-14, the Tigers made a late run to close within six at 23-17 but the lead was too large to overcome as AAMU closed out the match.

Austin was the lone Tiger with double-digit kills (11) as York finished with 17 assists followed by Alyssa Chuidian’s 10 kills and Grayson’s 10 digs.

TSU is back in action against Jackson State at 3 p.m. and Alabama State at 7 p.m. Saturday.