Nashville --- Plagued by costly errors and scoring droughts the Tennessee State University volleyball team dropped three straight sets to Belmont University Tuesday night in the Curb Event Center.

The set scores were 16-25, 24-26, and 18-25.

Tennessee State (2-12) recorded 33 kills and only hit .052 while Belmont registered 37 kills and notched a .250 attack percentage. TSU committed 27 errors in the contest while BU recorded 11. The Bruins held a staggering advantage in team blocks with 10 compared to the Tigers' one.

Shaquita Williams led TSU with nine kills while Terakka Walker added eight. Walker registered a team best 13 digs and Calasia Williams chipped in11.

BU's Maggie Johnson was the only player to post double-digits in kills on the night. Megan Clements led the Bruins with 21 digs.

After a short back and forth in the opening moments of the first set, Belmont built an 11-6 lead behind a 4-1 run. Tennessee State posted the next point of the frame but then suffered through a scoring drought that saw BU extend its advantage to 15-7.  The Bruins would not relinquish the lead. TSU hit a dismal .088 in set one.

With the score tied 2-2, in set the second set, Belmont rallied for five unanswered points to move ahead 7-2. Back-to-back kills from Terakka Walker and Shaquita Williams cut the Tiger deficit down to three (10-7) but the Bruins answered with a 5-1 run to make the score 15-8.

The Tigers clawed from behind using timely kills to erase the deficit and tie the set 23-23 before a Belmont attack error gave TSU its first lead of the night, 24-23. The advantage, however, would be short lived as BU used three consecutive kills to seal the extra points win and claim a 2-0 match lead. 

After falling behind 5-1, Tennessee State once again had to rally from a deficit in set three. The Tigers fought to close to within two points (16-14) but BU used another scoring run to open the lead up to 22-15. TSU never recovered.

The Tigers will return to conference action on Friday, Oct.2, when they host the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State at 7 p.m. in Kean Hall.