Lady Senators defeat Jackson State in TCCAA/Region 7 Volleyball Tournament

MORRISTOWN, TN – Thanks to a combined 30 kills from Veda Barton and Davanie Tarleton, fourth-seeded Walters State picked up a 3-1 win over fifth-seeded Jackson State in the opening round of the TCCAA/Region 7 Volleyball Tournament.

With the win, the Lady Senators improved to 13-16 on the season and will play top-seeded Cleveland State on Friday at 1 pm ET. 

Barton led the way for the Lady Senators with 17 kills, 19 digs and three aces while Tarleton had 13 kills. Along with those two, Annah Cate Hyatt had 42 assists and two aces and Preslee Quertermous finished with nine kills. Other contributors were Kara Coggins with seven kills, Isabelle Brickey with five kills, Lilabeth Jordan with 15 digs and Madison Haynie with three kills. 

Walters State got out to a 7-4 lead early in the opening set, but Jackson State tied things at nine. After the two teams were level at 10, Walters State scored three straight thanks to a kill from Barton and ace by Hyatt. The back-and-forth affair continued with the teams tied at 13, 14, 15 and 16, but Walters State got back-to-back kills from Brickey and Tarleton to go up 18-16.

However, Jackson State again tied things at 18, 19 and 20 before going up 22-20. Walters State broke the run with a kill by Barton and then, at 23-21, Barton had back-to-back kills to tie things up. Tarleton then had a kill to get set point, and Walters State converted to win the set, 25-23. 

Set two saw Jackson State jump ahead 14-6 and 16-8. Walters State cut it to six with back-to-back kills by Barton and Brickey, but Jackson State got the lead back to 20-13. Walters State got another kill by Barton, but Jackson State had set point at 24-18. 

Walters State staved off the first set point, and then got a kill and an ace by Barton and a kill by Tarleton to cut it to 24-20. It was 24-21 following yet another Barton kill, and an ace by Barton made it 24-23. The Lady Senators completed the comeback and tied things at 24, and then saved two more set points at 25-24 and 26-25. Unfortunately for the Lady Senators, Jackson State finally scored two in a row and tied the match with a 28-26 set win.

Walters State came out on fire to start set three, going up 5-1 after kills by Coggins and Barton. The lead grew to 8-3 following a kill by Brickey, and it was 14-8 after a kill by Quertermous. Quertermous had another kill that made it 15-9, and a block by Hyatt made it 19-13. That's when Tarleton took over with two more kills and a block, and Walters State went up 2-1 with a 25-17 win. 

Set four started similarly to set three, with Walters State going up 4-1 thanks to kills by Coggins, Barton and Tarleton. Jackson State cut the lead to one with two straight, but Walters State got up 12-6 when Barton had a kill. Barton and Tarleton traded kills to make it 18-12, but Jackson began to chip away and got things down to 21-19. However, Walters State regained control and scored the final four points to win the match.