Dekyra Dennis
MC301 Contributor
After a tough conference loss to Alabama A&M early last week, the Lady Tigers of Jackson State, rallied back sweeping Mississippi Valley State 3-0. Jackson State is now 7-2 in SWAC play and still on the hunt for a SWAC Championship title.
The Lady Tigers dominated the first set scoring quickly with 14 total kills and a hitting percentage of .344.
The second set was much more challenging for the Lady Tigers as they edged a 25-21 win, leading the series 2-0.
“I honestly feel likethe second set came at us by surprise, especially since we got through the first one very easily. Once they started getting a lead, we shut down a little bit and began to get frustrated. We weren’t sure what to do because it was so unexpected. But we were able to pull through and pick it up the next set,” said Talia Gaines, a freshman social work major from Daytona Beach, Fla.
JSU finished strong in the third set racking up another 14 kills, deflating an already stunned MVSU squad, with a 25-17 victory.
The MVSU Devilettes had no answer for the strong offensive strike of Taila Gaines who earned a team high of 10 kills on 19 attempts and Camry Dabney who followed with 9 kills.
One of the team captains, Camry Dabney, a healthcare administration major fromHouston, TXstated, “the key points to our win were keeping MVSU out of synchso they weren’t able to run the offense they wanted.Our team goal was to focus on what was happening on our side of the net, running our middles, and executing our offense.”
Freshmen Alana Washington and Jylen Whitten also added 12 digs each to round out a strong overall team performance.
With nine new players, eight freshmen and onetransfer junior, the Lady Tigers have made many changes to their lineup this season trying to find the best fit for each match. These new additions have also brought depth, versatility, and leadership to a JSU team who ended SWAC play 9-9 last year.
Already halfway through the season, and the Lady Tigers have secured more wins than all of last year. No one is content though, as coaches continue to challenge the girls to work hard, work together, and be consistent.
After a seven-day lay off, the Lady Tigers will host the SWAC Roundup on Oct. 25-27 and all the games will be played at the Jackson Convention Complex located in downtown Jackson.
The Lady Tigers take on Grambling State Friday, Oct. 25 at 12:30 p.m. and Prairie View A&M University at 5:30 p.m. Volleyball action continues on Saturday asJSU hostsTexas Southern University at 3 p.m.
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