COLUMBIA, S.C. – The injury-depleted Benedict College Lady Tigers dropped their fifth straight volleyball match, falling to Albany State University 3-0 on Tuesday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

Albany State won the match 25-16, 25-17, 31-29 to improve to 11-13 overall and 11-4 in the SIAC. Benedict falls to 12-14 overall and 5-8 in the SIAC.

Playing without injured middle blocker Adrionna Washington and senior outside hitter Aaliyah Lawson, the Lady Tigers struggled from the start. Albany State scored the first five points of the first set, then closed out the set with the final four points. The Golden Rams opened the second set with the first five points again and led the entire way to take a 2-0 lead.

In the third set, Benedict rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the set at 10-10. The Lady Tigers scored three straight points, getting kills by Taylor Stephens and Majda Cisic, to take their first lead of the match, 19-18. Shortly after that, Benedict outside hitter V'Aira Harris was injured. The Lady Tigers were still able to take a 24-22 lead, but couldn't finish off the set. Benedict had a 29-28 lead, but Albany State scored the final three points to pull out the marathon set.

Harris led Benedict with nine kills and had a team-high 12 digs. Stephens also had nine kills. Ashleigh Reeves had a double-double with 12 assists and 10 digs. Ka'Tia Wright also had a double-double with 12 assists and 10 digs.

Benedict wraps up its home schedule on Wednesday night, taking on Paine College at 6:30 p.m. The Lady Tigers will honor their two seniors – Lawson and Cisic.