GRAMBLING, La. | The Grambling State University volleyball team, battling sickness over the past few weeks, rallied from one set down to celebrate Senior Night with a 3-1 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) match on Thursday at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.

In a back-and-forth affair in the opening set, Arkansas-Pine Bluff pulled out a 26-24 victory, but Grambling State answered in the second set, trailing by as many as eight points to secure a 28-26 win. The Lady Tigers held off the Golden Lions in the third set, 25-23. Grambling State (15-11 overall, 12-4 SWAC) finished out the season sweep of UAPB, winning the fourth set, 25-23.

HOW IT HAPPENED 
First Set 

• Arkansas-Pine Bluff (9-21, 7-9) opened the match with three straight points to grab an early 3-0 lead
• Back came Grambling State, tying the set at 3 after a Haley Gomez block
• The Lady Tigers grabbed an 8-7 advantage after a long rally as Zyonn Smith finished with the kill
• Blocks by Maggie Plush and Kai Williams gave GSU a 12-10 advantage 
• Three straight errors by GSU allowed Arkansas-Pine Bluff to grab a slim 18-17 lead
• A kill by Adaizah Millett, along with two straight errors by UAPB, pushed Grambling State back into the lead at 20-18
• The two teams kept the set close and with the score tied at 23, the Golden Lions got a kill by Fernanda Spengler to force set point
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff got a kill by Spengler to take the opening set, 26-24

Second Set 

• The Golden Lions opened the set on a 6-2 run
• UAPB extended the advantage to 12-4, forcing GSU to call a timeout
• Grambling State slowly kept the set close, closing the deficit to 15-11
• Williams registered a kill and service ace as GSU trimmed the margin to 18-15, forcing a UAPB timeout
• The Lady Tigers continued to cut the lead as Ana Calderon and Plush recorded kills and a kill by Williams tied the set at 18
• Kills by Gomez and Williams gave Grambling State a 22-20 advantage and forced the Golden Lions to call another timeout
• UAPB's timeout worked effectively as the Golden Lions scored the next four points to take a 24-22 advantage
• However, Smith and Williams posted back-to-back kills, tying the set at 24
• Neither team could get that knockout punch until Williams picked up two more kills as GSU came all the way back for the 28-26 win

Third Set 

• The two teams battled back and forth early in the set until Destiny Thomas and Jayden James recorded kills to give GSU a 16-14 lead
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff rallied and took a 18-17 advantage after a service ace by Starvoula Papazoglou
• Grambling State grabbed the lead for good, 21-20 after a service ace by Calderon 
• UAPB closed the deficit to 23-22, but could not get past GSU as the Lady Tigers took the set, 25-23

Fourth Set

• GSU raced out to a 7-4 lead, taking advantage of UAPB errors
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff answered, tying the set at 8 after a bad set by Bruna Torres, and took a 10-9 advantage off a kill by Spengler 
• Kills by James and Plush, along with taking advantage of an error, gave the Lady Tigers a 17-13 lead
• Back came UAPB, tying the set at 17, but again GSU answered, using a 3-0 run to push the lead to 20-17 and force the Golden Lions to call a timeout
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff continued to climb back into the set, closing the gap to 21-20
• However, Grambling State proved to be too much as the Lady Tigers closed out the match, 25-23

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Grambling State finished with 59 kills in 198 total attacks, with 24 errors
• The Lady Tigers recorded 81 digs, 45 assists, 11 service aces, seven block solos and seven block assists
• Kai Williams paced Grambling State with a double-double of a career-high 20 kills and 16 digs
• Williams hit .238 in 63 total attacks
• Jayden James provided 10 kills and seven digs
• Ana Calderon dished out 36 assists, along with 13 digs
• Bruno Torres led the defense with 19 digs
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff finished with 56 kills in 185 total attacks, with 21 errors
• The Golden Lions registered 84 digs, 45 assists, eight block assists, five service aces and four block solos
• Fernanda Spengler led the UAPB offense with 20 kills (hitting .486) 
• Nikole Akamine handed out 22 assists, while Elyssa Kennedy added 15
• Defensively, Kaila Robinson and Tawyne King registered 18 and 17 digs, respectively

NEWS & NOTES

• Grambling State finishes the regular season 15-11 overall and 12-4 in SWAC play
• The Lady Tigers advance to the 2022 SWAC Volleyball Tournament
• GSU can lock up a No. 3 seed with two Jackson State losses
• Grambling State honored seniors Destiny Thomas and Haley Gomez prior to the start of the match
• Kai Williams finished with a career high in kills (20)
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff ends regular-season play at 9-21 overall and 7-9 in conference play
• The Golden Lions also advance to the conference tournament
• UAPB currently sits as the No. 6 seed, right behind Texas Southern
• Grambling State sweeps the season series over Arkansas-Pine Bluff

UP NEXT 
Grambling State takes a week off before traveling to Houston, Texas to compete in the 2022 SWAC Volleyball Tournament, hosted by Texas Southern University. The Lady Tigers will enter the tournament, which begins on Friday, Nov. 18, as either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed, depending on the outcome of the final two Jackson State matches. JSU owns the tiebreaker, based on head-to-head results.

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