BATON ROUGE, La. – Texas Southern split a pair of matches at the SWAC Cluster on Sunday inside Southern University's Seymour Gymnasium.
TSU 3, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 0
TSU ran its winning streak to four games with a 3-0 win over Mississippi Valley State in Sunday's opener.
MVSU opened with a 9-7 lead before a 4-0 TSU run shifted the lead back to the Tigers. MVSU would tie it at 11-all but TSU broke the set open with a 10-1 run led by Thalia Cordero Moreno's four kills. TSU never looked back as they claimed a 25-16 win.
Set two was another tight affair midway as TSU led 16-15. TSU once again broke the set open as they outscored MVSU 9-2 for a 25-17 win. Tied 11-all in set three, TSU put forth a team effort on both ends as they went on a 14-0 run to win the match.
Cordero Moreno led TSU with nine kills followed by eight from Danielle Lilley. Kourtni Collier and Taryn Stafford had two blocks while Dallas Balanay-Flores had 17 assists and four aces. Kaitlyn Scroggins added 21 digs on the defensive end.
FLORIDA A&M 3, TSU 1
TSU closed out the first day of action at the cluster with a hard-fought 3-1 loss to Florida A&M.
TSU opened with a 7-3 lead in set one but FAMU answered with a 9-2 run to lead 12-8. Five errors by TSU increased the deficit to 17-10 as FAMI never looked back for a 25-13 set one win.
TSU set the tone early in set two with a 14-5 lead but FAMU rallied back and narrowed the gap to 18-15. However, TSU withstood the charge and fought back as they answered with a 7-2 run to win set two 25-17.
Set three belonged to FAMU from the beginning as they turned a 1-1 tie into a 21-8 lead en route to a 25-12 win. Set four was a different matter as the Tigers jumped out to a 13-7 lead before extending it to 18-12. The end was near as TSU kept fighting off FAMU as they claimed leads of 23-18 and 24-21. Unfortunately, FAMU scored four straight to claim a 25-24 lead before a Janiya Chapman kill tied it at 25-all. However, FAMU scored the final two points to close out the match.
Cordero Moreno led TSU with seven kills and thee assist. Kourtni Collier had seven blocks while Dallas Balanay-Flores added 12 assists along with 13 kills from Kaitlyn Scroggins.
TSU closes out cluster play on Monday at 11 a.m. against Alabama A&M.
