Lady Senators fall in four sets to Cleveland State

MORRISTOWN, TN – Walters State won the opening set of Tuesday's match against Cleveland State but dropped the final three, falling 3-1 (17-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-18).

With the loss, the Lady Senators fell to 12-15 overall and 6-6 in TCCAA play. 

The Lady Senators came out firing in the match, going up 5-2 after a kill from Veda Barton, and then made it 8-4 following a block by Davanie Tarleton. Tarleton then served an ace to make it 10-6, but Cleveland State fought back and tied things at 11. 

Following ties at 12 and 13, the Lady Senators took back control with three straight points. Cleveland tried one more time to cut into the lead and had it down to 17-15 before Walters State scored the next six points to make it 23-15. During the run, Isabelle Brickey had a kill, Tarleton tallied a kill and block, Annah Cate Hyatt recorded a block and Payton Brown served two aces. 

Cleveland State broke the run with a point, but Walters State got kills from Madison Haynie and Kara Coggins to close out the set at 25-17.

In set two, Walters State again led early thanks to a kill from Brickey, an ace from Lilabeth Jordan and a block from Tarleton. The two teams then tied at eight, 10 and 11, but Cleveland State scored eight in a row to go up 19-11. Walters State continued to fight and cut the lead to five at 20-15 thanks to a kill and block from Barton and a kill by Brickey, but Cleveland State scored five of the final six points to tie the match up. 

Using the momentum from the second set, Cleveland built an 11-3 lead in set three. A Barton kill and ace highlighted four straight points by the Lady Senators, but Cleveland State continued to push and got their lead to 20-11. Barton, Brickey and Kara Coggins all had kills late in the set, but Cleveland picked up a 25-16 win to go up 2-1.

The two teams were close throughout in the final set, but Walters State scored four straight at 8-8 to get some separation. During the run, Haynie had a kill and Tarleton served an ace. The lead for Walters State was 15-11 after an ace from Hyatt, but the Cougars scored four straight to tie the set up. The Cleveland State run continued from there, and the lead was 23-17 late. Barton had one more kill in the match to make it 23-18, but the Cougars scored the next two points to win the match. 

Up Next:

Walters State will close out the regular season on Friday, hosting Davidson-Davie Community College. Friday is Sophomore Night, and the match is scheduled to begin at 5 pm ET.