Nashville --- Tennessee State saw a, 2-0, match lead
disappear in a five-set loss to Austin Peay Friday night in Kean Hall.
Tennessee State (5-11, 3-5 OVC) won the first two sets before
dropping three straight to Austin Peay (15-4, 6-2 OVC). The set scores were, 25-23, 25-22,
14-25, 21-25 and 7-15.
Kamille King recorded a double-double with a team-high 16
kills to go along with 13 digs. Danielle Howell registered 10 kills for TSU
while Santia Sanders led the team with 16 digs. Erika Moss also registered a
double-double with 38 assists and 13 digs. Vicmari Prospero hit .412 in the contest
and turned in five service aces while Shaquita Williams added five.
Ilyanna Hernandez led APSU with 21 kills in addition to 11
digs. Nikke Doyle added 18 kills and 10 digs while Paige Economos notched 29
digs. Kayla Grantham (16) and Sarah Alisaleh (12) also tallied double-digit
digs for the Lady Govs.
After a back-and-forth opening set, TSU was finally able to
create a little distance, 16-13, following a number of attack errors by
APSU. The Tigers maintained the
lead until the Lady Govs knotted the score, 17-17. APSU briefly took the lead, 23-22, but three straight
points, including two aces from Vicmari Prospero pushed TSU to the 25-23 win.
Another couple of aces from Prospero gave TSU an 8-5 lead in
the second set before APSU used a 9-4 run to go ahead, 14-12. The Tigers, however, reclaimed the lead,
18-17, after Erika Moss landed an ace. The TSU service game continued to roll
as the Tigers grabbed a 22-19 advantage on an ace from Shaquita Williams. The
Lady Govs managed to even the score, 22-22, but TSU closed out the set with
three straight points to claim the, 25-22, win. TSU had five aces in the frame.
Trailing the match two sets to none, ASPU jumped out to a
5-1 lead in the third frame. TSU fell behind 10-5 before using a timeout to
slow Austin Peay down. Out of the break, however, APSU swelled the advantage to
21-10 before eventually going on to win, 25-14.
Austin Peay had the momentum early in the fourth set and
captured a 13-10 lead. Tennessee State battled back to, 16-16, but a 4-1 run
put APSU back on top, 20-17. The Tigers put together a run of their own and managed
to even the score, 21-21, before the Lady Govs used two kills and a Tiger
attack error to move ahead, 24-21. TSU called a timeout but an APSU service ace,
on the next point, gave the Lady Govs the win and forced a fifth set.
The fifth set saw both teams trade points through the first
eight points. With the score tied, 4-4, Austin Peay fired off six unanswered
points to grab a 10-4 lead. The Tigers never recovered as Lady Govs outscored
the Tigers 5-3 down the stretch to seal the win.
Tennessee State finished the match with 47 kills and a .111
hitting percentage while Austin Peay tallied 57 kills and hit .217. TSU had 10 service aces in the contest
and APSU recorded eight.
The Tigers will return to action next Friday when they host
the Colonels of Eastern Kentucky. Match time is slated for 7 p.m. in Kean Hall.
