COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Lady Tigers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, then had to hold off a resilient Livingstone College team to take a 3-2 victory in a non-conference women's volleyball match on Wednesday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.
 
Benedict won the marathon match, 25-12, 25-16, 25-27, 10-25, 22-20 to improve to 10-3 overall. Livingstone falls to 1-7.
 
Cana Smith led the Lady Tigers with 15 kills and 15 digs for a double-double. Jordan Williams had a season-high 24 digs. Jadyn Murry matched her season-high of 27 assists. Desire' Young added 12 kills and had a season-high 5.5 blocks, including five solo blocks.
 
The Lady Tigers cruised in the first two sets, but the Blue Bears rallied in the third set with a late run to take a 25-24 lead, then pulled out the 27-25 win.
 
Livingstone maintained the momentum in the fourth set and cruised to an easy 25-10 win, forcing a deciding fifth set.
 
The Blue Bears had a 14-12 lead in the final set, but Benedict scored the next two points to tie the match. The set went back-and-forth with neither team getting the two point advantage to finish off the set. With the score tied at 20, Benedict got a kill from Young, then Kaiah Green and Young combined for a block for the final point and secure the win for Benedict.
 
Benedict is back in action on Thursday with another home match, taking on rival Allen at 6:30 p.m.