TALLADEGA, Ala. – The Talladega College women's volleyball team won the HBCUAC regular season title in back-to-back seasons with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-18, 27-25) victory over Fisk College tonight at home. Both teams enter tonight's contest tied for the best record in the conference and with the win, the Tornadoes take the overall number one see in the conference volleyball tournament.
With the win tonight, the Tornadoes earn automatic bids to the 2024 NAIA National Volleyball Championship.
Talladega improved to 21-7 overall and 14-1 in the conference while Fisk fell to 22-15 and 13-2 on the year.
The Tornadoes opened up the first set with a 4-3 lead but Fisk used a 3-0 run to take a 6-4 lead. Each team went back and forth with Fisk holding an 8-7 advantage and then used a 10-5 run to push its lead to, 18-12. After that Fisk never looked back to take the set 25-19 and go up 1-0 in the match.
Looking to bounce back in set two, the Tornadoes took an early 3-1 lead before Fisk tied things at three. Talladega strung together an 8-2 run to break things up with an 11-5 lead, but the Lady Bulldogs attempted to work their way back into it to trail, 12-8. Both teams traded points with the Tornadoes holding the edge at 17-13 and then using an 8-5 run to win the set 25-18 and tie the match at one.
Talladega wasted no time in set three as it jumped out to an 8-3 lead following its win in the second set. The Lady Bulldogs and Tornadoes split the next four points down the middle with Talladega up, 10-5. Fisk used a 4-2 run to cut the lead to three and trail 12-9, but the Tornadoes put together an 8-3 run to push its lead to, 20-12. Talladega after that never looked back as it went on to a 25-18 win and to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Tornadoes looked to close things out in the fourth set, but the Lady Bulldogs had other plans as both teams found themselves tied seven times. Talladega scored back-to-back points to take a 10-8 lead to break the tie. The Tornadoes then were able to push its lead to 14-10, but the lead didn't last as both teams ended up tied at 18. Talladega reclaimed the lead following a 3-0 run to go up 21-18 but Fisk scored three straight points to tie things up again. Each team after that scored a pair of points to only find themselves having to win by two and it was the Tornadoes who ended up with the win 27-25 and took the match 3-1.
Franchesca Rivas paced Talladega with 13 kills while teammate
Taquoia Rounds finished with eight kills of her own. Rounds added a team-high 26 digs in the process.
The Tornadoes had three others finish with double-digits in digs with
Briyith Echeverri tallying 24 and
Stella Lukaszuk registered 11.
Giovana Costarelli was the third but she finished with the team's only double-double with 16 digs and 17 assists.
Nuria Santos led all Tornadoes with 21 assists and an ace.
Talladega is back home on Monday, Oct. 28 when it hosts Albany State University at 6 p.m.
