COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Allen University Volleyball team fell in 5 sets (2-3) at home Thursday to Albany State University, one of the best teams in the SIAC.

ASU eked out a first set win 25-23 over the Yellow Jackets on an impressive 18 kills hitting .394 while Allen played well hitting .300 with 13 kills before ASU rolled past Allen 25-13 in the second frame. AU then staged their comeback outplaying the Lady Rams in the third and fourth sets winning each one by identical scores of 25-22 and tallying 14 kills in the third and 15 in the fourth to push it to a fifth set. Unfortunately, ASU stepped up their play in the fifth set hitting .364 with 6 kills to win the match 15-6.

ASU totaled just two more kills than the Jackets, 54-52, hitting .234 as a team while AU had more aces (12-9) and more blocks (13-11) on the night.
Freshman outside hitter Tahmiah Lawson led Allen with 12 kills hitting .172 while fellow outside, sophomore Maliyah Spencer recorded 10 kills with 5 digs, 2 blocks and 2 aces.

Junior middle hitter Sydney Ross had a good night as well registering 11 kills while leading the team in hitting % at .222 along with 3 blocks and two digs. Fellow junior middle, Taylor Lawrence also had a decent night hitting 5 kills along with 5 blocks and an ace while senior middle blocker, Marlaysia Westbrook totaled 4 kills and a team-high 6 blocks.

Senior setter Kayla Chambliss led the squad with 27 assists along with grabbing six digs, six kills, four blocks and two aces on the night while fellow setter, junior Lillian Williams tallied nine assists, with three aces, six digs, and two kills. Defensively, freshman libero Myra Lopez led the charge registering 24 digs along with 4 assists while sophomore DS Jayla Neely also recorded 8 digs, a team-high 4 aces, a kill and an assist.

Allen falls to 11-13 overall and 4-11 in the SIAC while ASU improves to 15-12 overall and 15-2 in the conference. AU will next remain home to host Fort Valley State on Sunday  at Noon from Adams Gym.