COLUMBIA, S.C. – Junior OH Sierra Smith set a career-high with 24 kills while freshman setter Sierra Faulkner also had a career high with 50 assists as NCAA Div. II Benedict College rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Clinton College 3-2 in a non-conference women's volleyball match Tuesday night in the Mays HRC Arena.
Benedict won the match 25-22, 23-25, 14-25, 25-18, 15-7 to improve to 3-1 on the season. Clinton dropped its back-to-back five set match to fall to 5-8 on the season.
Smith only committed 6 errors on her 54 attacks for a .333 hitting percentage while posting 12 digs for a double-double. She also had two service aces and an assist. Fellow junior OH Amoni Washington then added 14 kills and 8 digs. Freshman Middle hitter Monica Burns then tallied 11 kills with 5 digs, a block and an ace while fellow middle, junior Alexia Cunningham recorded 6 kills and four solo blocks.
Defensively, junior libero Love Landon and senior DS Ashanti Washington combined for 33 assists and two aces.
The first set was tied at 22 when the Lady Tigers scored two points on Clinton errors and a kill. Clinton jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the second set before Benedict rallied with nine consecutive points to take a 19-17 lead. Clinton then closed out the set with a pair of kills going on a 8-4 run. CC had 14 kills and hit .270 in the second.
Clinton, again, jumped out to another big lead in the third set, taking a 14-5 lead. The Lady Tigers were not able to rally back in that set and the Bears cruised to a 25-14 victory and take a 2-1 lead in the match on 14 more kills hitting .361. The fourth set was close again, with Benedict holding a 19-17 lead before going on to take the set 25-18. Clinton mustered 15 kills in the 4th and hit .278 whereas BC posted 16 kills and hit .417.
The Lady Tigers then jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead in the fifth set. Clinton would get within 13-7 but could not complete the rally. Each team had 7 kills in the final set. Clinton totaled 58 kills in the match and hit .201 as a team. The Golden Bears will be in action again on Wednesday night when they play Allen University on the road at 6 PM in Columbia.