HOUSTON, Texas | The Grambling State University volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Friday night as the Lady Tigers dropped a five-set affair, 3-2, to Bethune-Cookman in the 2022 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Volleyball tournament at the H&PE Arena.

Grambling State, the third seed in the tournament and its highest seed since 2009, concludes the year at 15-12. Meanwhile, Bethune-Cookman, the sixth seed, advances to Saturday semifinals and improves to 9-20.

Grambling State used a furious 8-3 run to pull away from Bethune-Cookman in taking the opening set, 25-15. Bethune-Cookman answered, tying the match at 1, with a 25-19 second-set victory. GSU, which played in its second five-set match against BCU this season, rallied down the stretch in the third set, 25-23. The Wildcats evened the match at 2 with a 25-23 win. Bethune-Cookman closed out the match, winning the fifth set, 15-10.

Alabama State, the top seed in the tournament, will meet No. 4 Jackson State in the first semifinal match at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Florida A&M, the second seed, takes on rival Bethune-Cookman at 4:30 p.m. at the H&PE Arena. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 
First Set 

• The two teams traded points early on as neither team held a lead by more than two points
• Bethune-Cookman took a 9-7 advantage off a block by Jasmine Moore and extended the margin to 10-7 off an error by Zyonn Smith
• GSU rallied and tied the set at 10 on kills by Jayden James and Smith
• The Lady Tigers seized control and forced a timeout with kills by Destiny Thomas and Maggie Plush, along with a service ace by Haley Gomez
• GSU stretched the advantage to 15-11 and used a 8-3 run to push the lead to 23-14
• Bethune-Cookman could not recover from the huge deficit as the Lady Tigers closed out the set, 25-15

Second Set 

• Grambling State opened the set with a 6-2 advantage after a block assist by Maggie Plush and Destiny Thomas
• Back came Bethune-Cookman, using a 6-3 run to close the gap to 9-8
• The Wildcats continued to battle back, using a 7-2 run to grab a 15-11 advantage
• A solo block by Niara Hightower gave BCU a 19-13 lead
• Grambling State called a timeout trailing 21-14 and the Lady Tigers responded, cutting the deficit to 21-17
• However, GSU never got any closer as the Wildcats took the set, 25-19

Third Set 

• The Lady Tigers began the set with a 5-1 lead
• Bethune-Cookman rallied, tying the set at 10 off back-to-back errors by Smith and Jayden James
• Back came GSU, scoring the next two points to grab the 12-10 advantage
• The Wildcats snagged a 18-16 lead off a hill by Hightower and service ace by Mecca Freeman
• With the score tied at 18, BCU scored three straight points, before a kill by Haley Gomez stopped the run with the Wildcats leading, 21-19
• Grambling State continued to rally, closing the margin to 23-22 off a kill by James and tied the set on a service ace by Gomez
• A kill by James and a service ace by Gomez sealed the set, 25-23

Fourth Set 

• A kill, along with back-to-back service aces by James, gave GSU a 7-5 advantage early in the set
• Bethune-Cookman tied the set at 9 and at 13, before grabbing a 14-13 lead off a Freeman kill
• The Wildcats stretched the advantage to 18-14, forcing GSU to call a timeout
• The Lady Tigers trailed 19-14, but slowly closed the gap, using a 4-1 run, to 20-18 as BCU called a timeout
• Grambling State got within one, 21-20, off a kill by Gomez
• Bethune-Cookman got a pair of blocks, pushing the Wildcats to a 23-20 lead
• A kill and block by Gomez kept GSU close, 24-22
• GSU, which fought off three set points, cut the margin to 24-23, but that was as close as the Lady Tigers would get as BCU forced a fifth and final set, 25-23

Fifth Set 

• The Wildcats grabbed an early 6-4 advantage and took an 8-5 lead as the two teams changed sides of the court
• Bethune-Cookman extended the margin to 9-5, before a kill by Kai Williams
• A kill by Smith and block assists by Gomez and Williams cut the margin to 9-8 and forced BCU to call a timeout
• The Wildcats answered with three straight points to push the advantage to 12-8
• Grambling State could not rally in falling the Wildcats, 15-10

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Grambling State finished with 64 kills in 215 total attacks, with 33 errors
• The Lady Tigers registered 105 digs, 63 assists, 11 service aces, eight block assists and two block solos
• Jayden James posted a double-double of 20 digs and 14 kills
• Zyonn Smith also added a double-double, with 29 digs and 10 kills
• Kai Williams chipped in with 12 kills and four digs, along with three total blocks
• Haley Gomez recorded 11 kills, five digs and three total blocks
• Destiny Thomas tallied 10 kills, along with three digs
• Ana Calderon and Simona Georgieva handed out 27 and 22 assists, respectively
• Bethune-Cookman finished with 51 kills in 179 total attacks, with 16 errors
• The Wildcats recorded 97 digs, 47 assists, 10 block assists, five block solos and three service aces
• Niara Hightower and Jasmine Moore led the offense with 12 kills
• Alisha Callender dished out 37 assists, along with 17 digs 
• Adriana Marrero posted 20 digs, while Madison Coates and Mecca Freeman each had 17

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