COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Allen University volleyball team picked up their biggest win of the season on Friday night as they knocked off their rival Benedict College in four sets in front of a raucous home crowd in Adams Gym.

Allen rallied again from a one-set deficit to dominate the Tigers in set two 25-17 while holding off BC 25-21 and 25-22 for the victory. Allen improves to 7-11 in the conference and 15-13 overall and will next take on Clark Atlanta University in their final match of the season on Saturday at 12 Noon.

"I'm just really proud of the team," said head coach Danielle Robinson. "We have come and grown so much this season. They knew what it felt like to get close to a victory in the last matchup and we didn't want to ever be that close in reach again and not capitalize!"

"Well they definitely did just that and it could not be a more sweeter win to do it at home and a such a great way to send our seniors off. I'm so proud of this group and the coaching staff for securing this BIG WIN over Benedict!" It is the first win over Benedict since 2018 and the most wins in a season for Allen since the 2017 team also had 15 victories.

A closely contested first set saw BC take it 25-21 as each team was basically even in kills. The second set saw Allen play well throughout with 14 kills while hitting .229 for the 25-17 win. Allen then got out to a 7-3 lead in the third set before BC rallied to take a 12-11 lead. AU then won six of the next 7 points to take a 17-13 lead before BC took the next four points to tie the match. Allen then won the next four points on kills from sophomore hitter Maliyah Spencer and an ace from Lillian Williams to lead 21-17. A kill from freshman right side hitter Tahmiah Lawson then clinched the set for AU 25-21 with Allen totaling 13 kills and hitting .135.

Finally, in the pivotal fourth set, Allen would jump out to a quick 8-2 lead before eventually stretching it to 14-7 and then 18-10 to take a commanding lead. However, BC would not go away quietly and go on a mini run to ge to within four at 21-17. BC (16-8, 10-8 SIAC) then ran off five straight points to improbably tie the match at 22 apiece as Allen began to get tight. However, a service error form BC changed the momentum before Lawson closed the match with her 14th kill to set off the celebration.

Lawson led the Yellow Jackets with 14 kills hitting .154 with a solo block while Spencer amassed 10 kills. Senior setter Kayla Chambliss again notched a double-double of 19 assists and 13 digs along with 6 kills, an ace and a huge solo block. Fellow setter Lillian Williams also had a good night tallying 18 assists with 5 digs, an ace and a kill.

Defensively, The middle hitting trio of senior Marlaysia Westbrook and juniors Taylor Lawrence and Sydney Ross then combined for 11 kills and 7 blocks as Westbrook had 3 solo blocks and 3 digs of her own. Freshman libero Myra Lopez then led the team with 19 digs along with 3 aces and 2 assists while sophomore DS Jayla Neely totaled 10 digs with a team-best six aces and 2 kills. Fellow DS Natalia Maciejewska also had a good night recording 13 digs with an ace.