BATON ROUGE, La. – Alabama A&M (4-20, 4-8 SWAC) delivered a 3-1 (20-25, 26-24, 30-28, 25-18) decision on the final day of the Southern Cluster against Prairie View A&M (6-22, 6-7SWAC) in an NCAA Division I women's volleyball match on Monday, November 1.
The Bulldogs opened the set with a narrow 8-6 lead before the Panthers flipped the switch with a 6-0 run to take a 12-8 advantage. AAMU would then respond with a 12-7 run to take the lead by one before the Panthers would wrap up the set by unleashing a 6-0 rally that included five kills to win 25-20.
Prairie View started the second frame leading 10-7 before the Bulldogs had a 4-0 stretch to pull ahead by one point. PVAMU would respond with an 11-8 run to once again take the lead, 21-19, before AAMU would then score seven of the final 10 points for a 26-24 victory.
The third set started with both teams deadlocked at 14-14 before the Panthers would have an 8-4 stretch to lead 22-18. The Bulldogs responded with a mini 4-0 burst to even the score 22-22 before both teams would battle it out and tie five times. With the score at 28-28 Alabama A&M would wrap up the set with the final two points to win 30-28.
In what would be the final set the Bulldogs produced another early advantage, this time 9-4 before the Panthers unleashed a 6-0 stretch to take the lead by one point. They continued to hold their close advantage at 15-14 before AAMU unleashed an 8-0 rally to flip the switch and have a 22-15 lead. From there both teams would go back and forth before the Bulldogs notched a 25-18 victory to pull off the 3-1 upset.
Senior outside hitter
Ashley Jordan (Bridgetown, Barbados) and freshman middle hitters
Ryann Tolbert (Southfield, Mich.) and
Sydney Morant (Columbus, Ohio) led the Bulldogs with 19,18 and 12 kills, respectively. Sophomore setter
Isis Mitchell (Plano, Texas) ignited the offense with 49 assists.
Defensive specialist
Maci Battle (Meridianville, Ala.) came away with 22 digs while Jordan chipped in with 16 and Mitchell finished with 13 to round out the top performers.
Sanai Fitchett had 13 kills for the Panthers while Kiersten Atkinson notched 11 and Jakarta Hope fueled the offense with 39 assists. Skyla Childs, Kimira Coffee and Caiya Artis all led the defense with 17 digs.
The Bulldogs will next head to Jackson State on Sunday, November 7 with game time slated for 4 p.m.
