SAVANNAH, Ga.- An hour before the Homecoming coronation of Rashad Ellerbee and Krystaline Jefferson as Mr. and Miss. Savannah State University, the SSU volleyball team kicked off the evening with a 3-0 sweep of Fort Valley State on Thursday evening.

Because of the coronation in Tiger Arena, the volleyball match was moved to Willcox-Wiley Gymnasium.

FVSU entered the match sitting atop the SIAC East but when the dust cleared, Savannah State had won all three sets (25-20, 25-19, 25-20).

SSU dominated the Wildcats in points (55-42), kills (43-35), aces (5-1), blocks (7-6), assists (43-35) and digs (80-72).

Leading the way for the Lady Tigers was Aniyah Parks. The freshman from Jonesboro, Georgia finished with 19 assists and 18 digs.

Kills by Amiyah Walker, Savannah Everett and Nyalah Smith gave SSU a 3-1 in the first set. Ahead 4-3, the Lady Tigers scored the next five points to expand their advantage to 9-3 and after grabbing a 11-6 lead, SSU used a 4-0 spurt to take a 15-6 advantage. Down by nine, the Wildcats went on a 9-2 run to pull within 18-16 but Savannah State scored the next three points to get some separation at 21-16. FVSU never got any closer than three the remainder of the set.

The Wildcats held a slim 11-9 lead in the second set before Savannah State answered with a 7-1 run to go ahead 15-12. SSU led 24-16 before Fort Valley State rallied with the next three points to slice their deficit to five but a service error by FVSU gave SSU the final point of the set.

The third set started with a service ace, attack error and a pair of kills by Everett to put Savannah State in front 4-0. After the Wildcats scored their first point, SSU answered with the next four points to go ahead 8-1. The Lady Tigers led 19-11 before FVSU went on a 8-3 run to make the score 22-19. A kill by Aaliyah Saunders and a error by the Wildcats gave SSU a 24-19 edge. FVSU was able to score another point before Savannah State won the set following a kill by Saunders.

The win improved Savannah State, who is in second place in the SIAC East, to 14-5 overall and 10-3 in conference play.

Savannah Everett had 16 kills and Nyalah Smith had 11. Amiyah Walker added 18 assists, three aces and 12 digs. Saniaa Dickey had 25 digs and Kira Raby had 12 while Mina Ezikpe added four blocks.

Savannah State will travel to Allen on October 28.

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