Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ALBANY, Ga. -- Tuskegee (6-8, 0-2) did not get off to the start it wanted at the SIAC Roundup on Friday, dropping a pair of matches to Albany State (7-25, 25-27, 25-20, 33-31, 12-15) and Clark Atlanta (15-25, 25-22, 26-28, 17-25) at the Jones Brothers Complex. Najwa Williams (28 kills) and Carmyn Lawson (21 kills) were the big hitters for the Golden Tigers, who will look to rebound in two matches on Saturday against Fort Valley State and Allen.

Albany State 3, Tuskegee 2

In the opening match against Albany State, Tuskegee battled back from a 2-0 hole to force a fifth set. Down by five points, the team rattled off four straight to have a chance to pull off a big comeback before the Lady Rams closed out the match. Still, it was a remarkable comeback after and extremely slow start by the Crimson and Gold.

Tuskegee came out flat in the first set, hitting -.412 (1-8-17), but battled through the remaining four sets as the two teams were closely matched. Najwa Williams saved the first set point before back-to-back kills by Jarianis Perez and Aleiah Carr forced the Golden Tigers in a two-set hole. In the third set, TU came to life. Tied at 16, Williams and Tamara Cooper had kills and Ta'Mya Hicks closed a four-point run with a service ace to give the team a cushion and Jordyn Jones closed out the game with a kill to get back in the match. The fourth set was a resilient effort by Tuskegee, staving off six match points, before Jones teamed with Cooper, then Williams to take the lead before an attack error gave TU the game and set up a deciding fifth set.

Clark Atlanta 3, Tuskegee 1

In the nightcap, Clark Atlanta avenged a non-conference loss two weeks ago with a blistering attack that saw the Panthers hit .275 as a team. For the second straight match, Tuskegee was a bit slow out of the gate but rebounded to take the second set. In the second, the Golden Tigers scored the first five points of the game and never gave back the lead, hitting .250 as a team. In the critical third set, kills by Williams and Lawson sandwiched an ace by Chelsea Webb to stave off three set points. A combo block by Jones and Michaela Branner gave TU a 26-25 advantage but CAU scored three straight points to take a 2-1 lead. In the final set, the Panthers used a 7-1 run midway through the set to take control as they hit .500 (20-2-36) as a team to finish off the Golden Tigers.