COLUMBIA, S.C. – Albany State University rallied from big deficits in a pair of games and then pulled away in the fifth game for a 3-2 victory and handed Benedict College its first conference volleyball loss Monday night in the Benjamin E. Mayes Human Resource Center.
Albany State took a 29-27, 21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-10 victory to improve to 11-8 overall and 8-3 in the SIAC. Benedict drops to 9-3 overall and 8-1 in the SIAC.
The Lady Tigers had a 19-11 lead in game one before Albany State rallied. Benedict had game point at 24-22 after a kill by LaTayvia Mack, but Albany State came back to tie the game at 24. The Lady Tigers had game point again at 27-26, but Albany State closed out with the final three points, scoring on a Benedict service error and the final point on a service receiving error.
Benedict took a 17-10 lead in game two, but Albany State closed the gap to 23-21 before the Lady Tigers closed out the game with kills from Mack and Terae Sweeting.
Benedict held a 17-10 lead in game three, but Albany State came back to tie the game at 18 and pulled away for a 25-19 victory. During that late rally, Benedict's Tyrealle Reed, the only libero on the roster, injured her right knee and never returned.
“We had opportunities,” said Benedict coach Gwen Rouse. "We clearly should have won the first game and the third game. And to make it worse, our libero gets hurt.”
Game four was another close contest, with Albany State taking leads of 19-16 and 20-18 before Benedict stormed back. Mack smashed a pair of kills to give Benedict the lead at 23-21, then closed out the game with an ace.
Albany State jumped out to an early lead in game five, going ahead 9-2. The Lady Tigers closed the gap to 12-10 before Albany State's closed out the match with a pair of kills and a block.
The loss tightens the race in the SIAC Eastern Division, with Benedict, Albany State, Claflin and Clark Atlanta all with one division loss.
“This puts us in a bad situation now,” Rouse said. “If we had won, we would be in a good position.”
Mack led Benedict with 29 kills and had nine digs. Lorena Leo had 15 kills and Courtney Bobo-McKenzie added 11 kills. Ashley Jackson had 61 assists and Reed had digs.
Jillian Anderson led Albany State with 12 kills.
Benedict returns to action on Thursday to face rival Claflin on the road to start a five-match road trip. The Lady Tigers' next home match is October 31 against Fort Valley State.
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