ITTA BENA, Miss. – Alabama A&M (5-21, 5-9 SWAC) won a 3-2 decision (25-15, 25-19, 23-25, 19-25, 15-11) over Mississippi Valley State (2-19, 0-15 SWAC) in an NCAA Division I women's volleyball match on Monday, November 8.
AAMU started with an 8-1 lead before the Delta Devils had a 9-4 run to close the gap to 12-10. The Bulldogs would then have a 10-3 rally to stretch the score to 22-13 before MVSU would have consecutive points. Alabama A&M would then wrap up the set by scoring the final three points that included two kills from freshman middle hitter
India Rhodes (Chandler, Ariz.) to win 25-15.
The second set got underway with Alabama A&M having a 9-3 advantage before the Delta Devils had a 13-10 rally to close the gap to 19-16. The Bulldogs would then respond and pull away with a 6-3 run to win 25-19.
Mississippi Valley State began the third set with a minor 8-6 advantage before having a 4-0 burst to pull ahead 12-6. The Bulldogs would then go on an 11-6 run that included eight kills to only be down by one, 18-17. From there both teams would go back and forth, being tied twice before the Delta Devils would earn seven points that included two kills to close out the frame 25-23.
The fourth set started with MVSU having a narrow 10-8 lead before the Bulldogs flipped the switch with a 4-0 burst to lead by two. The Delta Devils would then respond with a 10-4 run to take lead the 20-16 before scoring five of the final eight points to close out the set 25-19 and force a deciding fifth and final set.
In that frame, Mississippi Valley State would have a narrow 4-2 advantage before AAMU would unleash a 9-3 rally to flip the switch and lead 11-7. The Delta Devils would notch three straight points before the Bulldogs delivered the final blow with four of the final five points to win the match and set with a 15-11 victory.
Senior outside hitter
Ashley Jordan (Bridgetown, Barbados) and freshman middle hitters
Sydney Morant (Columbus, Ohio) and Rhodes had 20, 15 and seven kills, respectively. Sophomore setter
Isis Mitchell ignited the offense with 48 assists and 22 digs. Senior defensive specialist
Maci Battle came away with 19 digs to round out the top performers.
Chardea Berthelot had 16 kills while Jelia Fullerton had 15 with 20 digs for the Delta Devils. Sydney Ross fueled the offense with 17 assists and Kiya Garza led the defense with 18 digs.
The Bulldogs will return home on Wednesday, November 10 as they battle against Bethune-Cookman. Game time is slated for 6 p.m.
