SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Talladega College women's volleyball team picked up its 18
th win of the season with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-20) over host Savannah State University. With the win, the Tornadoes move to 18-7 on the season while the Tigers fall to 10-6.
Talladega led 5-4 in the opening set before the Tigers scored the next four points in a row to take an 8-5 lead. The Tornadoes attempted to chip away at the lead as both teams went back and forth but couldn't get over the hill as Savannah State went on to win, 25-19.
Trailing 1-0 in the match, both teams found themselves tied at four in set two. The Tigers for a second straight set used a 4-0 run to take an 8-4 lead, but this time, when Talladega clawed back into the match, they could tie things at 14. Both teams would stay tied at 17 until the Tornadoes used a 5-0 run to take a 22-17 lead. That lead would be enough for Talladega even with the Tigers using a 4-1 run to make it 23-21, but the Tornadoes used a kill and a Tiger error to take the set and even the match at one.
Down 3-0 in set three, Talladega used a 6-0 run to take the lead, 6-3. The Tornadoes were able to hold a 15-11 lead as both teams went back and forth. The Tigers used a 6-0 run of their own to take a 17-15 lead but Talladega then scored the next two points to tie things at 17. Savannah State took its third lead of the match scoring back-to-back points to go up 19-17. Each team traded the next two points with the Tigers leading, 20-18. Talladega was able to close out the match on a 7-2 run to win 25-22 and go up 2-1 in the match.
Looking to close things out in set four, Talladega got off to a strong start to take an 8-4 lead. The Tigers were able to come as close as 10-9, but the Tornadoes were able to score the next four points straight to push its lead to, 14-9. Savannah State threatened again as they were able to use a 5-1 run to make it, 15-14. Talladega put the match away as it used a 9-2 run to take a 24-16 lead, but the Tigers one final time threatened as it used a 4-0 run to make it 24-20 before the Tornadoes scored the final point to take the set and match.
Talladega's
Zyaire Prettie Garrit finished with a double-double in kills with 19 and digs with 16. Fellow teammate
Giovana Costarelli also tallied her own double-double in assists with 21 and digs with 11. She also finished with a team-high aces with three of the team's 10. But those weren't the only two to finish with a double-double for the match,
Dominique Madarang tallied a double-double in assists (17) and digs (11).
Briyith Echeverri registered a team-high 32 digs while tallying six assists for the Tornadoes.
As a team, Talladega tallied 97 digs for the match, which is a season-high breaking the previous season-high 88 digs back on September 16 against Fisk.
Talladega is home on Friday when it hosts Edward Waters in a non-conference match at 6 p.m.
