HOUSTON – The Texas Southern volleyball team opened the home portion of its 2016 schedule Tuesday with a three-set sweep of intra-city opponent St. Thomas.
The Lady Tigers took the match by scores of 25-11, 25-18, and 25-22.
Senior frontliners Audriana Carson and Kali Fluke knocked down 10 kills apiece to lead the Lady Tigers, who improved their record to 4-7 with the win. Fluke, a middle blocker from San Antonio, Texas (Wagner) recorded no errors on her 17 attack attempts, good for a .588 percentage.
Breyanna York, a starter who splits setting duties with fellow starter Asia Howard, led the Lady Tigers with 12 assists. Howard handed out 11 assists, while Ellena Torres chipped in eight.
York also knocked down five kills in her first five attempts, finishing the evening with a hitting percentage of .833 with five kills on six total attacks.
A total of 16 players saw action for the Lady Tigers in Tuesday's match, with the team's 25-11 opening set victory over its NAIA opponent allowing head coach Jocelyn Adams to go to her bench early.
Allison Woods led the TSU defensive effort with 12 digs. Carson dug nine opposition attacks, while Howard Cassidy Jannson tallied eight digs.
After dropping the first two points, the Lady Tigers seized control of the opening set with eight unanswered points to give themselves a 12-5 lead. York served three aces among her seven total serves during that run, with back-to-back aces off the hands of UST's Sophie Rigaut forcing the visiting Celts to call timeout.
A 6-1 run by the Tigers stretched their lead to 18-7 before the home team finished the set by scoring five of the last six points.
TSU players served eight aces for the second consecutive match; the Lady Tigers also got eight service points Saturday in a non-conference win in San Antonio over Southwestern Athletic Conference rival Prairie View A&M.
York led the team with four aces, while Torres chipped in two aces.
The Lady Tigers opened the second set with seven consecutive points, which gave them enough of a cushion after St. Thomas regrouped. The Celts would pull to within two points multiple times in set two, before TSU scored the last five points to claim the win.
The teams battled back in fourth in set three, with the Lady Tigers regaining the upper hand with three consecutive points to pull ahead of UST at 19-18. The visitors would go back on top at 21-20, but three more unanswered TSU points – all on Celt errors – gave the Lady Tigers a 23-21 advantage.
After the Celts' Alyzabeth Vincent knocked down one of her team-high seven kills to pull to within one point, the Lady Tigers finished the match with a kill from Fluke and then York's fourth ace of the night.
Jannson and Nicole Robinson chipped in six kills apiece for the Lady Tigers. Carissa Moran added six kills for St. Thomas; UST's Candace Grosjean tallied a match-high 20 digs, followed by Vincent with 13 digs.
The Lady Tigers open SWAC play this weekend with a trip to Arkansas and then Grambling, La. TSU opens the two-match road trip Friday at Arkansas–Pine Bluff. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
