SAVANNAH, Ga.- Savannah State University won their third match in a row following their 3-0 victory over Paine College on Wednesday night in Tiger Arena.

SSU beat the Lions by scores of 25-14, 25-12, 25-17.

The win also gives Savannah State the season sweep over Paine.

The Lady Tigers finished the night hitting .279 with 47 kills, 43 assists and 66 digs to go along with their eight aces and four blocks.

SSU held a 13-11 lead in the opening set but then strung together a 8-1 run to stretch their advantage to 21-12. During the run, the Lady Tigers received a service ace from Aaliyah Saunders and kills by Iyonna Pike, Amiyah Walker and two from Savannah Everett.

The Lady Tigers hit .483 and had 17 kills in the second set on their way to a 13-point win. Saunders had a kill for the first point of the set while Everett followed with another kill for a 2-0 lead. Back-to-back kills by Pike and a service ace by Saunders put SSU ahead 5-0. Ahead 9-4, SSU used kills from Nyalah Smith and Everett along with mistakes by Paine to grab a 13-4 lead. A 4-0 run put Savannah State ahead by 12 and a 3-0 spurt thanks to back-to-back kills by Pike gave SSU their largest lead of the set at 21-7.

Kills by Everett and Mina Ezikpe to start the third set put the Lady Tigers ahead 2-0 but Paine kept the set close. With the score knotted at five, a kill by Smith along with a Paine error put SSU ahead 7-5. After Paine scored a point to close within one, Savannah State answered with seven straight points to separate themselves from the Lions. Paine used runs of 3-0 and 4-0 down the stretch to close their gap to 16-13 but the Lady Tigers responded with a kill by Connelly Smith, a service ace by Saniaa Dickey and a kill by Ezikpe to take a 19-13 advantage. Paine never got closer than five the rest of the way.

Ezikpe ended the night with eight kills for the winners while Pike had seven. Dickey had 13 digs and Walker had 36 assists and six digs. Everett finished with 11 kills and eight digs, Mya McCall had 14 digs while Kira Raby had a game-high 17 digs. Nyalah Smith chipped in eight kills and Saunders had three kills, two aces and a block. 

Harmony Flagg (one kill and one block), Connelly Smith (four kills, one block, one dig), Talia Taylor (one kill) and Natalie Vaughn (two kills and two assists) all played in one set but had contributions in the victory.

Savannah State (3-2) will travel to Brewton-Parker Christian University on September 23, 2025 for their final non-conference match of the regular season. The first set starts at 6 p.m. at Gillis Gymnasium.

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