Lady Braves Rally Falls Short at Southern

BATON ROUGE, La. – Freshman Barbara Garrett collected a match-high 13 kills as the Alcorn State University volleyball program dropped a four-setter to Southern University 25-23, 25-14, 19-25, 25-11 Friday afternoon inside Clifford Seymour Gym.
 
The Lady Braves (2-16, 1-8 SWAC) jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set before the Lady Jaguars (7-11, 6-4 SWAC) responded with 10 straight points behind the serving of libero Diamond Williams. Alcorn saved four straight set points at 24-19 behind two kills from Garrett, but SU's Arabella Hall slammed a quick set in the middle to give the Lady Jaguars a 1-0 advantage.
 
Three kills and two attack errors put the Lady Braves in a 5-0 hole early in the second frame. Alcorn was outscored 20-14 the remainder of the set as SU committed just one attacking error and connected on 12 kills en route to a .306 attacking percentage.
 
The Lady Braves erased a 3-0 deficit in the third, scoring four straight points down 4-1 to take a 5-4 lead. The stanza then tied eight times before Alcorn broke through at 12-12. The Lady Braves notched two consecutive points and later at 15-14 put together a 3-0 run that forced a Lady Jaguars timeout.
 
After another SU timeout with Alcorn leading 23-19, Brittney Dumas utilized her powerful top-spin serve to record an ace before putting the Lady Jaguars out of system which allowed Heather Jackson to ice the set with a well-placed kill.
 
Alcorn made 10 attacking errors on a -.233 clip in the deciding set as the Lady Jaguars sealed the match 25-11.
 
Senior libero Carol Kiam-Assato matched Williams with 20 digs.
 
The Lady Braves have off Sunday before returning to action in the Breast Cancer Awareness game Friday against the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex. First serve is set for 6 p.m.
 
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