TALLADEGA, Ala. – The Talladega College women's volleyball team swept a pair of home matches today against Fisk University and Rust College to extend its winning streak to five. The Tornadoes downed Fisk 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-12, 25-23, 15-13) and won 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-8) over Rust. Talladega is now 7-4 on the season.

Talladega is back home on Thursday when it hosts Miles College at 6 p.m.

Match One: Talladega 3, Fisk 2
Both teams went back in forth in the opening set with neither team gaining much ground. Fisk held a 23-22 lead but a kill from Talladega's Josephine Gates tied the set at 23. The Lady Bulldogs used a kill to retake the lead and claimed the win off an attack error by the Tornadoes to take set one, 25-23.

Fisk jumped out to an early 9-5 lead in set two, but Talladega chipped away but was never able to catch up.  Tornadoes came within two to trail 23-21 but couldn't overcome Fisk's early surge that allowed it to claim the set, 25-21.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, Talladega jumped out to a 12-4 lead in set three.  Fisk (2-7) came within six to make it 12-6, but it wasn't enough as the Tornadoes used a 13-6 run to close out the set and force a fourth set.

Tied 6-6 in set four, Talladega used a 4-3 run to take a 10-9 lead. The lead didn't last long as Fisk scored the next four points to go up, 13-10.  The Tornadoes scored the next two points to trail 13-12, but the Lady Bulldogs pushed their lead to, 16-12. Fisk broke the set open when it used a 6-3 run to go up 22-15 but the momentum shifted when Kiana Polk had back-to-back kills for Talladega to make it, 22-17.  Her two kills sparked a Talladega run to win 25-23 and tie the match at 2-2 and force a fifth and final set.

After each team won back-to-back sets, both teams went back and forth with neither team being ahead by no more than two points. Tied at 13, the Tornadoes used a kill from Re'na Ashley and took advantage of a Fisk attack error to close out the set 15-13 and take the match, 3-2.

Talladega had three players with double-digit kills. Prettie Zyaire-Garrit paced all three with 16 kills. She tallied a double-double in kills and digs (17). Ashley and Polk each had 12 kills.
Giovana Costarelli also finished with a double-double in assists with 31 and digs with 10 for the Tornadoes. Teammate Briyith Echeverri finished with a team-high 23 digs.

Match Two: Talladega 3, Rust 0
Talladega opened up with a 4-1 lead in the opening set, but Rust attempted to cut into the lead and make it a 6-3 match before the Tornadoes used a 4-1 run to make it, 10-4.  Rust scored the next four points to make it 10-8 but that is as close as it would come. Talladega went on a 15- 6 run to win 25-14 in the opening set.

Trailing 2-1 to Rust in the second set, Talladega put together a 7-2 run to go up, 8-4. The Tornadoes after that run never looked back as they built a 10-point lead at one point to be up 18-8 before going on to win, 25-13.

Talladega looked to close things out in set three, which it did leading, 13-5.  Rust (2-10) scored the next three points to come within five but a 12-0 by the Tornadoes closed out the set and secured the win.

Talladega as a team hit .333 overall and hit a match-high .375 in set two.

Garrit led the Tornadoes in kills with nine while hitting. 500 for the match.

Costarelli finished with a team-high 19 assists for Talladega while teammate Nuria Santos finished with 11 assists of her own.

Echeverri tallied a match-high 11 digs for Talladega.