FLORENCE, Ala. - The Alcorn State University volleyball program suffered a road loss to North Alabama (7-2) Tuesday night in the Lions' home opener at Flowers Hall.
"We have to believe that we can win," said head coach Chelsey Lucas, "because we are a really good team. We're young, though, and we need to play more consistently and buy into our mission if we want to be successful."
The Lady Braves attack was led by junior Singryd Valadares, who finished with four kills. Multiple freshmen also contributed offensively as Ashley Samuel, Kayla Anderson, and Fiapaipai Iosia followed with three kills each. Octavia Dixon recorded the lone ace for Alcorn and Jasmine Chambers added seven assists.
Defensively, Iosia tallied 10 digs and freshman Kaylyn Latin contributed five. Juniors Alondra Rivera Modesto and Valadares each made a block assist.
Senior Brittney Dumas assisted Anderson to open the first set, but UNA took off with 12 unanswered and used a late 6-0 run to claim the set and the 1-0 lead.
Dixon kicked off set two with an ace. After the Lions grabbed back-to-back points, Alcorn wrestled back the lead with kills by Iosia and Valadares. An Alcorn ball handling error knotted the score at 4-4 and ignited a 4-0 Lions run. After the Lady Braves cut the Lions' lead to 10-7, UNA closed out the set 15-1 to take a 2-0 match lead.
Set three was forgettable as UNA jumped out to a 19-2 lead. The teams then traded points to close out the set and the match.
Alcorn hosts Concordia (Ala.) this Friday for a doubleheader at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. The first match is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start with the second match listed as a 6 p.m. start. The games mark Greek Night for the program as the Lady Braves encourage the Alcorn Greek community to show up wearing their respective letters.
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