NASHVILLE — The Tennessee State Tigers (9-6, 1-5 OVC) fell to the Morehead State University Eagles (8-9, 4-2) 3-1 in Ohio Valley Conference action from TSU's Kean Hall. After winning the first set, the Tigers suffered from slow starts in the final three sets.
Friday's loss is the third in a row for the Tigers. TSU senior
Aniya Williams scored 22.5 points on a game-high 18 kills in the loss. Classmate
Kristian Williams was huge throughout, leading her team with 25 assists. Senior
Gina Rivera-Ortiz was her steady self on defense with a game-high 24 digs.
"Starting slow in the last three sets hurt us," said TSU head coach
Donika Sutton. "We also had some communication breakdowns. They found a way to attack our left side. We need to shore up some things before tomorrow's match."
Set 1: TSU 25-22
TSU's
Mion Weldon started the match off with a kill propelling her team to an early 3-0 start. Morehead State woke up, chipping away at the lead, taking an 8-6 lead on a kill by McKenzee Wagener. Tiger sophomore
Rayna Williams had a kill to stop the Eagles' run. After the teams traded points, TSU went on another 3-0 run to go up 13-11 on a block kill by Williams. The Tigers took a 15-13 lead at the media break on a kill by
Mion Weldon.
With TSU up 17-16, both teams went on a long rally. Rivera-Ortiz flashed her defensive skills with two sensational digs before the Eagles finally got the point. The digs got the Tiger crowd into the game. With Morehead up 20-18, the Tigers used the energy from the crowd to fuel a 5-0 run. Williams was huge during the run with three kills. After an Eagle point, Williams once again got a kill to make it set point. TSU finished the set on an attack error by Wagener.
"We feed off of other's energy," said
Aniya Williams. "Having our crowd behind us helped us as well. We made the plays that we had to (in order to) win the set. I liked how we communicated with each other."
Set 2: Morehead 25-22
TSU's
Kendall Washington started the first set. After both teams traded points, the Eagles went up 6-2 and never looked back. A service ace by Morehead's Taylor Hodges and a ball-handling error by TSU's
Kristian Marshall gave the Eagles a 15-8 lead at the media break. After going down 18-10, the Tigers went on a 4-0 spurt forcing Morehead to call a timeout. TSU made the run 6-1 to close the gap to one forcing another Eagle timeout with the score at 19-18.
The set went down to the wire, with both teams going back and forth. After a Washington kill made it 21-20, the Eagles finished the set scoring four of the next six points to tie the match at 1-1.
Set 3: MSU 25-15
The Eagles dominated the pivotal third set from start to finish scoring the first three points. The Eagles then went up 9-1 forcing a TSU timeout. A Hodges ace gave Morehead a 10-1 lead. The Tigers then went on a ferocious run to cut the lead 14-12 on a Weldon kill forcing an Eagle timeout. The timeout seemed to spark the Eagles as they went on a 4-1 run to make the score 18-13 forcing the Tigers to call a timeout. Morehead then finished off the set on a 7-1 run. TSU's lone point during the run was a kill by Weldon.
"We got stuck in rotations way too long," said Marshall. "We have to find the first ball kill faster. Our communication wasn't where it needed to be. We made a comeback but fell off at the end.'
Set 4: MSU 26-24
The final set started much like the third set, with Morehead scoring the first three points. Then, it looked like the Eagles would run away with the set by going up 10-4. TSU stopped the run with a kill by senior
Aria Holmes. Holmes' kill spurred the Tigers the take a 15-14 lead at the media break.
The teams traded points until a double block by Williams and junior
Sofia Garcia-Guerrios gave TSU a 21-19 lead to force an Eagle timeout. After the timeout, a Garcia-Guerrios kill gave TSU the largest lead of the set at 22-19. A Washington kill on an assist from Garcia-Guerrios gave TSU a 23-20 lead. The Eagles then went to work finishing the game on Hodges' fifth ace of the match.
"We will have to work on our focus and communication which we lacked tonight," said Holmes. "Sometimes it was the little technical things that hurt us. I am confident that we will fix some things and come back tomorrow with a better effort."
The two teams will play again tomorrow (Saturday) at 2 p.m. CST at Kean Hall.
