The Alcorn State University (ASU) Lady Braves Volleyball team delivered its most hard-fought performance of the season on Sunday, September 28th extending its Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) opener to five sets before falling 3-2 to the Texas Southern University Lady Tigers inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
The Lady Braves (1-13, 0-1 SWAC) showed grit and improvement, marking the first time this season that they’ve played a full five-set match. After dropping the first two frames (17-25, 18-25), Alcorn stormed back to win the third set 25-14 and battled to a 25-23 win in the fourth, claiming back-to-back sets for the first time this Fall.
Sophomore outside hitter Rylan Jones paced the attack with a team-high 12 kills, while Michaela Branner added nine kills, two aces, and three block assists for 12.5 points. Jessika Martinez chipped in nine kills of her own, and Cristin Webb tallied six kills with four block
assists.
Setter Juliana Henao guided the offense with 36 assists while also contributing four service aces and six block assists. Defensively, Tomoni Giddings anchored the back row with a match-high 24 digs, while Courtney Carter added 10. As a team, Alcorn totaled 55 kills, 62 digs, and eight service aces in a performance that showed toughness and growth in front of their home crowd.
The Lady Braves will look to build on their first five-set match of the season as SWAC play continues on Monday, September 29 at 6:00 pm in the Davey L. Whitney Complex against the Prairie View A&M University Lady Panthers (4-10, 1-0).
