ALBANY, Ga. – The Benedict College Lady Tigers stayed alive in the 2011 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Stillman College on Tuesday.
Benedict dropped to the loser's bracket earlier in the day with a 3-1 loss to conference champion Kentucky State.
“It's tournament time, and everybody wants to win,” said Benedict coach Gwen Rouse. “Especially when you into the loser's bracket. Then it's do or die. We won the battle, and it was a hard-fought battle.”
Benedict will face Claflin College in an elimination game Wednesday at 10 a.m. Benedict has the difficult position of needing to win four consecutive matches on Wednesday in order to bring home the tournament championship and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Benedict improved to 16-6 with the 25-23, 13-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-10 victory over Stillman.
With the match against Stillman tied up at two games each, the Lady Tigers pulled away from a 5-5 tie in the fifth game with three straight points, including a kill from
Terae Sweeting and an ace from
Lorena Leao. Stillman cut the lead to 8-7, but then Benedict rattled off four straight points, with three of those points coming off Stillman errors. After Stillman cut the lead to 13-10,
LaTayvia Mack responded with a power spike for a kill and
Ashley Jackson closed out the match with an ace.
Benedict won the first game as Mack scored four of Benedict's final five points to break a 20-20 tie. A service error by Stillman clinched the first game for Benedict.
Stillman jumped out to an early lead in game two and cruised to a 25-13 win. The third game was another close contest, with three straight kills by Sweeting giving Benedict a 15-11 lead. Stillman closed the gap to 20-18, but a kill and ace by Leao and an error by Stillman made it 23-19. A kill by Mack gave Benedict match point at 24-21, but Stillman responded by scoring the next two points before Sweeting notched a kill for the final point.
Stillman used a 4-1 run to break out from a 16-16 tie in game four. Benedict came back to tie the game at 21 on a kill by
Tatyana Robinson. An error by Benedict gave Stillman a 24-22 lead, but Robinson came back with a kill to make it 24-23. But Stillman sealed the victory with a kill by Cynteria Jones.
Mack had 27 kills and hit .375 against Stillman. Leao had 14 kills and 15 digs, while Sweeting added 13 kills.
Ruth Ann Simms had 26 digs and Jackson had 48 assists. Stillman's Jamila McKinnis, the SIAC Player of the Year, had a triple-double with 30 kills, 22 assists and 18 digs and hit .528
Benedict opened the day with a 16-25, 25-22, 20-25, 15-25 loss to Kentucky State.
Kentucky State broke away from a 15-15 tie with a 10-1 run to win the first game.
The Lady Tigers rallied from a 16-10 deficit in the second game to take a 25-22 victory. Sweeting closed out the game with a kill.
Kentucky State pulled away in the third game and had game point at 24-15 before the Lady Tigers responded with five straight points before a Benedict service error finally ended the game.
Kentucky State used a 10-1 run in the fourth game to build a 13-4 lead and Benedict never challenged with the Thorobrettes taking the 25-15 victory.
Sweeting led Benedict with 11 kills and Mack had 10. Simms had 17 digs and Jackson had 26 assists. Benedict hit just .073 for the match.
