SAVANNAH, Ga. – In one of their most evenly matched games of the season, the Savannah State volleyball team edged out a 3-2 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) victory over Benedict College Wednesday night in Tiger Arena.
The Lady Tigers improve to 5-10 on the season and 4-7 in conference play. Benedict falls to 10-8 on the season and 4-5 in SIAC action. SSU returns to the court on Friday with a 6 p.m. match against SIAC foe Fort Valley State in Tiger Arena.
Deep in the opening set,
Imani Williamson lifted the Lady Tigers to a 24-23 lead with a kill. But she and teammate
Valeria Aldarondo followed her kill with two errors to give the visitors a 25-24 lead. Two more costly errors for SSU handed Benedict the first set in a close 27-25 loss.
SSU opened the second set with a 5-1 run behind some stellar serving from
Jeilynn Brown, but the Lady Tigers again hurt themselves with several errors and a bad set, tying the game at 5. The offensive effort for SSU, however, rebounded but the momentum had shifted and Benedict stayed with them point-for-point down the stretch.
Jamese Scott handed SSU a 22-21 lead on a kill with an assist from Aldarondo— last week's SIAC Setter of the Week.
Destini Williams followed that with a service ace. A Benedict attack error and a kill from Brown sealed up a 25-21 victory for the Lady Tigers, tying the match.
The story remained the same through the third set, as SSU and Benedict battled point-for-point. Late in the set, Brown recorded back-to-back kills to tie the game at 22. A costly Benedict error gave SSU the lead, and Aldarondo followed that with a service ace.
Jedaiah Daniels recorded a kill with an assist from Aldarondo to give the Lady Tigers a 25-22 win and a 2-1 lead.
The near even play continued into the fourth set. Benedict's Daija Walton recorded a kill to lift the visitors to a 25-24 lead late in the set. A costly SSU error from Daniels handed the visitors the set win and tied the match at 2.
Benedict opened the deciding set with a 4-1 run, but SSU answered quickly taking an 8-6 lead on a service ace from Williamson. It was all Savannah State after that as the Lady Tigers, behind five more winning serves from Williamson, took a commanding 12-7 lead. Aldarondo recorded the final kill with an assist from Williams to give SSU a 15-12 set win and the 3-2 match victory.
Brown led the Lady Tigers with a season-high 20 kills on 44 total attacks. Williamson had 18 kills and 12 digs on the night, while Scott finished with a season-high 13 kills and a season-high 6 blocks. Williams led on defense with 20 digs. Aldarondo recorded a season-high 49 assists with 17 digs.
