MARTIN, TN. — The magical season continues. A season that the Tennessee State University Tiger Volleyball Team was picked to finish Ohio Valley Conference, now continues for them with a chance to play in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007. After two five set victories in the past two days, TSU now sets their sights on last year's champion SEMO for the OVC championship.
 
"We played a tough schedule in the preseason to prepare us for this," said TSU head coach Donika Sutton. "We have been working hard all season for this moment. We look forward to the challenge."
 
For the second time in this tournament, the Tigers will have to defeat a team that they are 0-2 against this season. On September 23, SEMO won in straight sets (24-26, 22-25, 22-25) on the strength on 10 service aces. The Tigers had big leads in the first two sets but couldn't hold off rallies by SEMO. In the first set, they were up 21-16 and 13-7 in the second set.
 
The next day the Tigers despite being up 2-1 in sets, fell in five sets (23-25, 25-21,25-23, 17-25, 8-15). The Tigers offense was paced by Celestial Miller, who finished with 15 kills on the day. Johanna Alcantara added 14 and Kennedy Davis chipped in with 12 as part of balanced Tennessee State attack. Defensively, TSU had three players reach double figures in digs, including Gina Rivera-Ortiz's match high 33, 25 from Carla Boudal, and 13 more from Hadley Pride. From the front row, Gabrielle Johnson contributed six blocks.
 
The Matchup: #6 Tennessee State Tigers (18-15, 10-8 OVC) vs #3 SEMO (17-15, 10-8 OVC)
Date/Time:  Saturday, November 19 || 7:00 p.m. (CST)
Location: Skyhawk Fieldhouse | Martin, Tennessee
Live Stats:     https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=436954
Live Video:      https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=b10016cb-d4c5-43ec-84e8-66fc8c0a7034
 
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS (Semi-final round stars)

• OVC first teamer Johanna Alcantara had a match high 22 kills. Celestial Miller and OVC second teamer Kennedy Davis chipped in with 12.
• Sofia Garcia-Guerrios continued her spectacular run of late notching her fifth double-double in six games. Her 31 assists and 15 digs along with her season high six kills helped propel the Tigers to victory.
• Gina Rivera-Ortiz, an OVC first teamer, just missed a double-double as she scooped up 29 digs and had nine helpers. Hadley Pride's 11 digs gave TSU three players in double figures in that category.
• OVC leader Carla Boudal had four service aces.

SCOUTING THE RED HAWKS (Semi-final round stars)

• This will be the third OVC championship game in four years for SEMO. They are the defending champions.
• All OVC first teamer Zoey Beasley and Kayla Closset had 21 kills each in the upset of UT-Martin.
• OVC Defensive Player of the Week Tara Beilsmith had 42 digs and 12 assists.
• Izzy Lukens passed out 45 assists with a career-best 20 digs, two kills, an ace, and a block.