SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Savannah State volleyball beat Central State, 3-2, Monday evening to advance to the semifinals of the 2019 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Women's Volleyball Championship.

The Lady Tigers opened the tournament as the No. 4 seed from the SIAC East Division. SSU fell 0-3 in Monday's opening game against conference powerhouse Spring Hill, the No. 1 seed from the West Division, moving into the consolation bracket for their second game.

They continue post-season play on Tuesday with a 1 p.m. match against the loser of a 10 a.m. match between Albany State and Kentucky State. SSU closed out the regular season on Friday with an 0-3 loss to Albany State. Earlier in the season, the Lady Tigers lost to Kentucky State, 0-3.

In a press release before the tournament, the SIAC announced the All-Conference awards. Setter Valeria Aldarondo was named to the SIAC All-Conference Second Team. Aldarondo has been the rock of SSU's offensive effort this season. This year she leads the team with 678 assists.


Spring Hill, the top team in the SIAC and defending champions, rolled to 3-0 win over SSU in the opening match—Game 4 in the tournament—behind 25-12, 25-15 and 25-10 set wins. The Badgers fielded 16 players to SSU's eight. The Lady Tigers were led by Jeilynn Brown who had 8 kills in the match and Aldarondo who had 16 assists and 6 digs.

Spring Hill is on a 30-game win streak and are 31-4 overall this season. They finished the regular season 18-0 in conference play. The Lady Tigers fell to 8-17 overall.

Savannah State bounced back in the second game of the day against Central State, opening the first two sets with 25-18 and 25-11 wins, respectively. Just as the Lady Tigers were set to seal up the match, Central State fought back late in the third set. Tied at 21, Central State sealed up the win with a 4-2 run to push the match into extra sets.

The Marauder's carried over the momentum into the third set, earning a 25-14 win and forcing a deciding set. All tied up at 13 in the fifth set, Central State committed two costly errors to give SSU the final 15-13 win and the match.