NASHVILLE — The Tennessee State volleyball team took care of business in straight sets (25-17, 25-17, 25-19) to defeat the Belmont Bruins on Thursday at Kean Hall.
The out-of-conference victory improved the Tigers' overall record to 3-7 on the season.
Celestial Miller finished with 10 kills on the day to lead the Tigers offense. Defensively, had two players reach double figures in digs as Gina Rivera-Ortiz had 19 and Hadley Pride had 11. From the front row, Gabrielle Johnson contributed five blocks.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Tigers grabbed control of the set-one lead at 5-4 and never looked back to win 25-17. Tennessee State led by 11 points at 24-13 before closing out the set.
SET 2 | Tennessee State continued to roll after a set-one win by securing a 25-17 victory in set number two. The Tigers scored first and never trailed in the set to secure the victory. Tennessee State opened up as much as a 12-point lead at 21-9 before finishing off the set. The Tennessee State offense also got a boost from three aces in the stanza.
SET 3 | Tennessee State then sealed the sweep with a victory in set number three. The Tigers took the set 25-19 propelled by a strong performance on the attacking side. Tennessee State registered a .302 attack percentage with 17 kills in the set win. The Tigers opened up a 23-16 lead in the stanza and coasted to victory from there
Game Notes
» Carla Boudal had a match-high two aces in the win.
» Tennessee State never trailed on the way to winning the second set 25-17.
» Celestial Miller had a team-high 10 kills for Tennessee State.
» Tennessee State got a match-high 19 digs from Gina Rivera-Ortiz.
» Tennessee State attackers were helped by a match-high 39 assists from Login Williams.
Postgame Quotes
Head coach Donika Sutton — We love playing at Kean because it is loud in here. We felt the energy of the crowd and played off that. We finally played together with some chemistry. Playing on the road helped us to gain some trust in each other. It showed tonight.
Junior Kennedy Davis — Playing against the competition we had made us better. Coming home and playing here was special. The fans were into it, and we fed off that. We have been working hard and it all came together tonight. We played man-to-man and communicated well.
It was fun tonight. We have been having a lot of conversations about our chemistry and I feel like we showed up. When I made a dig, Gina, Hadley and Carla were there to set things up.
