On the final day of the SIAC West Cluster, the Tuskegee University volleyball team earned a 3-2 win over LeMoyne Owen College in Frankfurt, Kentucky. TU outscored its opponent 83-57 in points, 67-43 in kills and 62-39 in assists.
Crystal Hall and Syncere Ellis dominated the Magicians in Kills with 21 and 18 respectively. Santana Lewis produced a season-high 34 assists while Khirra Kenny added a team-high 15 digs. Hall added 14 on the day.
In the 5th and final set of the match and TU trailing 3-2, the Golden Tigers scored off the next five points to take a commanding 7-2 lead. LOC had one last run left getting to within two points at 9-7 before Skegee scored the next four, which gave them a 13-7. They would not look back from there securing a 15-10 final
In the final match Saturday afternoon. The Golden Tigers fell to Central State 3-1.
Battling back to tie the opening set 21-21, CSU was edged by TU 25-21 to fall behind 1-0. The Lady Marauders responded by jumping out to a 12-6 lead in the second set and went on to win 25-15 while limiting their attacking errors to just four in the second set compared to 12 TU miscues.
With the score tied 12-12 in the third set, CSU benefited from five straight errors made by TU attackers. Kills by Deja Clark and Desiree Howard helped CSU increase its lead to 20-13 and the Lady Marauders cruised to another 25-15 win to take hold of the match, 2-1.
CSU never trailed in the fourth set, leading by as many as eight. TU cut the deficit down, 19-16, but CSU came back with next four points and went on to seal the match with a 25-17 result in the final frame.
CSU combined for 34 kills and a total of 19 errors while TU totaled 33 kills and 40 errors. Clark led CSU attackers with nine kills. She also added five blocks and seven digs. Howard finished with eight kills and a career-best eight blocks. Kayla Adams led the team with 12 assists as CSU earned its second victory at this weekend's SIAC Round Up.
The Golden Tigers improved to 1-7 overall and 1-3 in league play. Skegee has back-to-back home matches this week starting with rival Miles College on Wednesday at 6 p.m. followed by Oakwood College Thursday at 6 p.m.
