The Sugar Bears volleyball team beat the Jackson State Lady Tigers 3-1 in the Sugar Bears Classic tournament finale Sept. 18 where the Sugar Bears went 3-0 against their opponents.
The Sugar Bears came out swinging during the first two sets of the game, not allowing the Lady Tigers to take the lead once.
During the first set, the Sugar Bears dominated the Lady Tigers 25-11. The Lady Tigers were only able to score two kills and had eight errors while the Sugar Bears had 16 kills and only four errors.
The Sugar Bears did not have as an impressive second set as the first, but still won 25-14. The Lady Tigers came out with five kills and five errors while the Sugar Bears recorded 14 kills and five errors during the second set.
At the start of the third, the Sugar Bears racked up a 5-0 lead over the Lady Tigers before Jackson State called a timeout. When the Lady Tigers came back out on the court they were an entirely different team and quickly began closing the gap between them and the Sugar Bears. The Sugar Bears held on to their lead at 11-7, but the lady Tigers started their comeback after three kills and a shot hit out of bounds by the Sugar Bears to tie the game at 11-11. Sugar Bears sophomore middle blocker Taylor Hammonds broke the tie with a kill, but the Lady Tigers answered back and then took away the lead as they went on a four point scoring-streak to make the score 15-12.
The Sugar Bears attempted to recover, but they were not able to catch up with the Lady Tigers. After fighting back to trail the Lady Tigers 21-24, the Sugar Bears lost the set after Lady Tigers junior outside hitter Chyna Coleman tapped the ball over the net into a hole in the Sugar Bears’ frontline to secure the set victory for the Lady Tigers, 25-24.
During the fourth and final set, the Sugar Bears came out and put themselves ahead of the Lady Tigers and fast. After the first few points, the Sugar Bears were already ahead of the Lady Tigers 6-2.
Later in the set, the Sugar Bears led 11-7 and went on a five-point scoring streak that started with a Lady Tigers error followed by a service ace, two kills and another Jackson State error.
Toward the end of the fourth set, the closest the Lady Tigers ever came to the Sugar Bears was by a five point deficit when the score was 19-14. The Lady Tigers scored once more during the game and the Sugar Bears ended the game with a kill by Hammonds to make the final score 25-15.
Coach Steven McRoberts said there were several things he wanted the team to bring into the game against the Lady Tigers, but not everything went according to plan.
“We wanted to execute which we did pretty well with for about two games, and then we had a spell where we were a little unfocused and our effort level went down considerably and [the Lady Tiger’s]went way up,” he said.
Hammonds said the third set was rough for the team and that there were a few problems happening on the court.
“Everyone was playing by themselves and not as a team, but we came together on the fourth set,” she said.
