BOSSIER CITY, La. – The No. 1 Talladega College volleyball team fell 3-0 (18-25, 23-25, 19-25) in the HBCUAC title match to No. 2 Dillard University this afternoon. The Tornadoes are now 25-9 on the season while Dillard is 20-8. Talladega won the automatic qualifier to the NAIA Volleyball Tournament by claiming the regular season title and now waits to see who it will face in the tournament.
Talladega grabbed an early 3-1 lead in the opening set, but Dillard answered back recording the next four points to take a 5-3 lead. Each team traded points with Dillard holding an 11-8 edge before it broke the match open to go up, 20-9. The Tornadoes used a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 24-18 but it wasn't enough as Dillard claimed the set point on a kill to win 25-18 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
In set two, Dillard wasted no time as it took a 7-2 lead, but the Tornadoes were able to close the gap and trail 11-8 following a 6-4 run. Dillard put together a 6-4 run of its own to push its lead to 17-12, but Talladega used a 7-0 run to take a 19-17 lead. Dillard responded by scoring the next three points to go in front 20-19, but a Dillard set error allowed Talladega to knot things at 20. Both teams went back and forth to find themselves tied at 23, but back-to-back kills by Dillard gave it a 25-23 victory.
Going into set three down 2-0 in the match, Talladega looked to keep things alive as it took an early 5-0 lead. Dillard chipped away at the lead to cut the lead to 9-5 with the Tornadoes still in front, but both teams found themselves later tied at 10. Once again like the previous two sets, both teams traded points to only end up tied at 14 this time. Dillard was able to grab a 15-14 edge, but the Tornadoes tallied the next three points to go up, 17-15. The Talladega lead did not last long as Dillard scored four straight points to take a 19-17 lead and then used a 6-2 run to close the set out and win 25-19 and take the match 3-0.
Ashley Re'na paced Talladega in kills with eight while hitting .261 while
Zariah Messick tallied seven kills with a .333 hitting percentage.
Giovana Costarelli finished with team-highs in assists with 17 and aces with three. She also added four digs in the process. Teammate
Nuria Santos tallied 11 assists of her own while adding six digs in the process.
Briyith Echeverri registered a match-high 22 assists while finishing with four assists and an ace.
Taquoia Rounds joined Echeverri with double-digits in digs as she recorded a dozen of her own.
