Central State earns crucial SIAC victories over Lane and LeMoyne-Owen


MEMPHIS, Tennessee – The Central State Lady Marauder volleyball team won all three road matches on Saturday with a come back victory over Lane College and beating LeMoyne-Owen twice.

 
In the opening match of the day against Lane, CSU dropped the first two sets, 27-25 and 25-20. Tied 17-17 in the third set, CSU took advantage of four LC attacking errors while a service ace by Jazmyne Walker and kills by Darrin Hughes and Ajanae' Cressey resulted in a 25-17 CSU win.

 
Walker was dominant to start the fourth set, recording five kills as CSU jumped out to a 10-2 lead. The Lady Marauders led by double-figures for the majority of the fourth set and cruised to a 25-13 win.

 
With the deciding set tied at 7-7, back-to-back kills by Walker tilted the momentum in CSU's favor. Three more LC errors paired with kills by Elaina Brooks, Hughes and Walker sealed the set and match for the Lady Marauders.


In the win over LC, Walker set a new season-high with 28 kills. Cressey added 14 kills and Hughes finished with 11 kills. Setter Kayla Adams finished with a career-high 47 assists. Five CSU players finished with 10 or more digs led by Cristina Reyes' 15.

 
After the five-set win over Lane, CSU made the short trip to the LeMoyne-Owen College campus. A late schedule adjustment resulted in CSU and LOC playing each other twice on Saturday. The changes did not detour CSU's momentum.

 
In the first match against LOC, CSU was dominant with a 25-10 win in the first set. LOC pushed CSU in the second set as the Magicians built a 22-20 lead. CSU responded by scoring five of the next six points as Walker finished the set with three straight kills for a 25-23 win for CSU.
 

Up 12-10 in the third set, the Lady Marauders took full control by claiming the next nine points for a 21-10 lead. Adams served to aces for CSU to help close out the match with a 25-16 third set win.

 
Walker led CSU in the first match against LOC with 13 kills while Adams finished with 34 assists.

 
CSU opened the final match of the day with a 20-12 lead. LOC battled back to narrow the CSU lead to 20-18. CSU reclaimed the momentum as Cressey rose up for back-to-back kills to propel her team to a 25-20 win.

 
Up 22-20 in the second frame, CSU finished strong with kills by Hughes, Cressey and Adams to go up 2-0 in the match.


In a one-side third set, CSU jumped out to an 11-2 lead and never looked back. Hailey White sealed the 3-0 victory for CSU by closing out the match with two kills and two service aces, giving the Lady Marauders the 25-8 third set win.

 
Cressey led CSU in the final match of Saturday with 10 kills. Adams had 29 assists. CSU tied a season-high with 15 service aces against LOC as Kiarra Rosales led all players with four aces.

 
With three wins on Saturday, the Lady Marauders improve to 18-8 overall with a 13-3 record in the SIAC. CSU travels to play Ohio Dominican on Tuesday.