COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College women's volleyball team snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over Edward Waters on Thursday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.
Benedict won the tightly-contested match 27-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-16 to sweep the season series. Benedict improves to 12-10 overall and 8-8 in the SIAC and stays in the hunt for a spot in the SIAC championship tournament. Edward Waters falls to 12-11 overall and 11-6 in the SIAC.
The first set was close the entire way. A kill by
Angelic Carter gave Benedict a late 21-20 lead, but Edward Waters scored four of the next five points and had set point at 24-22. The Lady Tigers fought back with three straight points on kills by
Mia Burgess and
Desire' Young and a tandem block by Burgess and Young to take a 25-24 lead. EWU tied the score off a Benedict error, but then Benedict got a kill by Burgess for a 26-25 lead, then won the set on a block by Young.
Edward Waters took an early 12-7 lead in the second set, but Benedict rallied with a 7-0 run behind the serving of
Moriah Smith. Burgess had three kills during that run, while Young had back-to-back kills to take a 14-12 lead.
EWU had a 4-0 run to take a 19-17 lead, but then Benedict answered with a 4-0 run on four straight Edward Waters errors to regain the lead at 21-19. After alternating points made the score 22-21, kills by Carter and
DeMyah Jackson gave Benedict a 24-21 lead. After an EWU point, Jackson scored a kill to seal the second set.
Edward Waters used an 11-0 run in the third set to take a 15-8 lead. Benedict trimmed the lead to 22-19 after a kill by Carter, but Edward Waters closed out the set with a 3-1 spurt to win the third set.
Benedict used a 10-1 run in the fourth set to jump out to a 13-5 lead. Edward Waters cut the lead to 17-13, but then the Lady Tigers reeled off six straight points to build a 23-13 lead. A kill by Carter was the match-winning point.
Benedict had four players in double-figure kills, led by Burgess with 13. Jackson had 11 kills and a team-high 16 digs. Carter and Young had 10 kills each, with Young adding seven blocks.
Willow Alls dished out 23 assists, while
Jayden Johnson had a double-double with 18 assists and 13 digs.
Benedict is back in action on Friday with a 6 p.m. home match against Clark Atlanta.
