Charleston, S.C.— The SC State women's volleyball team displayed a lot of hustle and determination but came up just short, as they fell to The Citadel Bulldogs, 2-3, (25-23, 18-25, 25-20, 22-25, 13-15), in a non-conference matchup in McAlister Field House. With the loss the Lady Bulldogs fall to 13-21 overall while the Citadel improves to 7-23.
The match was competitive from the first serve. Each team owned a set heading into intermission; with SC State taking Set One and The Citadel taking Set Two.
After intermission, SC State came out aggressive, jumping out to a 7-2 lead in the third set. The Lady Bulldogs went up by as many eight, 17-9 before The Citadel picked up its offense. The Bulldogs put together a 9-3 run to pull within two, 18-20. SC State would not let up however, as they went on a 5-2 run to close out Set Three, 25-20 and take a two set to one lead.
The Lady Bulldogs began Set Four very sluggish, finding themselves in an 8-4 deficit. SC State would go down by as many as seven, 6-13, before it all began to come back together. The Lady Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run to take its first lead at 16-15. The teams exchanged side-outs with neither team taking more than a two point lead over the next four points. The Citadel managed to took a three-point advantage at 23-20 and never looked back taking Set Four, 25-22, to force a fifth and deciding set.
The Citadel jumped out quick in Set Five. After SC State scored the first two points of the Set, The Citadel went on a 5-1 run to take a two-point advantage at 5-3. The Lady Bulldogs scored the next two points to tie the game at five. The teams exchanged points for the remainder of the set with the Citadel scoring the last two points to take the fifth and deciding set, 15-13.
Jarne Gleaton had an outstanding overall performance for SC State. Gleaton led all attackers with 27 kills and picked up 14 digs in the contest. The Lady Bulldogs had three players to record double-digit kills as
Shabree Roberson put down 16;
Desire Waller contributed 14 and Gleaton. SC State also had three players to record double-digit digs led by
Melissa Robinson with 20. Along with Robinson and Gleaton,
Bria Brimmer picked up 12 digs for the Lady Bulldogs. Brimmer also put up a game high 55 assists in the loss.
The Citadel was led offensively by Jestila Tatum with 13 kills and Kathryn Johnston picked up17 digs to lead the team defensively.
SC State will close out its regular season on the road this Friday and Sunday when they travel to the state of Texas to take on Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M, respectively. Friday's contest is set for 5 p.m. while Sunday's matchup is set for a 12 noon first serve.
