NASHVILLE, TN --Johanna Alcantara had a game and season high 26 kills with a blistering .513 hitting percentage, Gabrielle Johnson collected 11 kills with a .563 hitting percentage and Sofia Garcia-Guerrios had a double-double of 31 assists which is her season high and 11 digs to help carry the Tennessee State University Tiger volleyball team to a five-set victory (25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 20-25, 15-7) over the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars Friday in front of a raucous home crowd at Kean Hall.
"We love playing at home and tonight was really special," said Garcia-Guerrios. "We fed off of their energy especially in the last set. Tonight was fun."
Alcantara finished with a season high 28.5 points. The victory moved the Tigers' record to 10-14 overall and 4-7 in OVC action. They also boast a 7-1 record at Kean Hall this season.
Celestial Miller added 16 kills and Kennedy Davis chipped in with 10 as part of a Tennessee State attack that had four players with double-digit kills. Defensively, had two players reach double figures in digs as Gina Rivera-Ortiz had 27 and Garcia-Guerrios had 11. From the front row, Kennedy Davis contributed six blocks.
Game Notes
» Tennessee State had four players in double figures in kills.
» Gabrielle Johnson was efficient in attacking situations in the match, accumulating 11 kills while hitting .563.
» Sofia Garcia-Guerrios had a match-high three aces in the win.
» Tennessee State never trailed on the way to winning the first set 25-20.
» Tennessee State never trailed on the way to winning the fourth set 15-7.
» Johanna Alcantara had a match-high 26 kills for Tennessee State.
» TSU got a match-high 27 digs from Gina Rivera-Ortiz.
» TSU attackers were helped by a match-high 32 assists from Sofia Garcia-Guerrios.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Tigers won the first point and never looked back to win the first set 25-20. Tennessee State led by as many as six points at 20-14 before finishing off the set. got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked six SIU-Edwardsville attacks in the stanza. Garcia-Guerrios started the match with two aces to propel TSU to an early 4-0 lead. Alcantara (five kills) and Davis (four kills) both swung at a .571 clip in the set combining for nine kills.
SET 2 | Tennessee State won the second set 25-22 to promptly jump to a 2-0 lead. The Tigers survived a back-and-forth set to win in a stanza that featured eight lead changes and was tied 19 times. Neither team led by more than three points along the way. The Tigers racked up 20 kills, nine coming from Alcantara over the course of the set.
SET 3 | SIU-Edwardsville stayed alive with a set-three victory to make it a 2-1 match. The Lady Tigers came up short by the score of 25-22. SIU-Edwardsville grabbed the advantage for good at 23-22 in a set that was knotted up six times before the Cougars took over in the second half of the stanza.
SET 4 | Tennessee State then dropped their second straight set 25-20 to brind the match level at two sets apiece. The Lady Tigers trailed by as many as six points as SIU-Edwardsville grabbed the advantage for good at 19-18 and Tennessee State was never able to recover in a set that was tied up five times before the Cougars took over in the second half of the stanza. An 8-0 run at the end of the set helped SIUE to the win.
SET 5 | Tennessee State needed a fifth set to seal the match win. After they jumped out to an early two sets to none lead, SIU-Edwardsville responded to take the third and fourth sets before the Tigers finished off their victory with a 15-7 fifth-set win. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead and never looked back in the fifth set to secure the victory. Tennessee State ended on a high note, opening its biggest lead of the stanza, eight points, to close out the set, totaling 11 kills in the process.
The teams teams will be back in action tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.
