The Talladega College Women's Volleyball Team opened their HBCU Athletic Conference Championship defense with a 3-0 win over 8-seed Southern University at New Orleans Monday afternoon.
Talladega had a well-rounded attack with 7 players recording at least one kill in the match.
Franchesca Rivas and
Re'na Ashley paced the Tornadoes with 8 kills apiece,
Zariah Messick and
Josephine Gates each had 6 kills,
Marcelly Perez had 5, and
Kortni Johnson had 4. The team also combined for 13 block assists, 4 each coming from Gates and Johnson, 3 from Ashley, and 2 from Perez.
Nuria Santos and Giovana Costraelli had 15 assists each, combining for 30 assists on 38 kills, and
Briyith Echeverri led the way with 9 digs.
The opening third of the first set was a back-and-forth affair until a 3-0 run from Talladega gave the Tornadoes a little breathing room at 7-3. The teams traded mini runs before Talladega answered a 3-0 run from Southern with a 6-0 run of its own to make it an 18-11 score. That run extended to the end of the set with the Tornadoes closing on a 13-4 run to take the opening set 25-15.
Talladega fell behind early in the second set, trailing Southern 9-4 before a 5-0 run with Costraelli serving brought the Tornadoes all the way back to tie it at 9 apiece. The two teams traded points for a bit until another substantial Talladega scoring run put the second set well in their control. A kill from Messick evened the score at 12-12, but then, with Santos serving, Talladega rattled off 10 straight points to make it a 22-12 game. Talladega also won three of the next five points to win the set, 25-14.
The Tornadoes left little hope for Southern to mount a comeback, jumping out to a 6-2 lead early in the third set. Southern stopped the run for a moment, but it was quickly a 15-4 game with Talladega on their way to a semifinal berth. Southern countered with a four-point burst of their own, but Talladega won 5 of 6 points to make it 20-8 and then finished off their first round victory by winning the third set, 25-13.
Talladega advances to the semifinal round on Tuesday, November 12th at 12:00 p.m. CT.
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