The Arkansas-Pine Bluff volleyball team battled through two hard-fought matches to open the Betty Austin Invitational before digging deep to close out the weekend with the program's first win of the season, outlasting South Carolina State in a five-set thriller at Elmore Gymnasium in Huntsville, Ala.
UAPB needed every bit of the marathon match, trading sets with the Bulldogs before finishing on top, 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 20-25, 25-23, 15-10), to salvage the tournament finale.
The two teams could not be separated for most of the afternoon. The match featured 30 tied scores and 13 lead changes, with neither side able to pull away for long. UAPB grabbed the opening set 25-22 to draw first blood, but South Carolina State answered by taking the next two sets, 25-23 and 25-20, to put the Lady Lions on the brink.
Facing a 2-1 deficit, UAPB found another gear. The Lady Lions took a physical fourth set that saw 14 ties and seven lead changes, eventually pulling it out 25-23 to force a decisive fifth set. UAPB carried that momentum into the finale, racing out to an early 4-0 lead and never trailing en route to a 15-10 win to close out the match and the tournament.
Senior Ashanti Butler was UAPB's most efficient weapon at the net, hammering 11 kills against just one error on 22 swings for a blistering .455 hitting percentage to go with four total blocks and a team-high 13.0 points. Karli Glover and Kennedy Adams each chipped in 10 and eight kills, respectively, with Adams hitting an efficient .278 and adding a block to finish with 11.0 points. Glover matched Adams' point total while also contributing five digs.
Setter Martyna Lubowicz ran the UAPB offense for most of the match, piling up 20 assists, while Jnireah Henry and Haley Reeves anchored the back row with 18 and 19 digs, respectively. Reeves also shared the team lead in blocking with four total blocks alongside Butler, in addition to five kills. Off the bench, London King provided a spark late, stepping in to run the offense during the decisive stretch and finishing with 10 assists and two kills.
UAPB's balanced attack was on full display throughout the match, with four different hitters reaching double-digit points and the Lady Lions out-blocking South Carolina State eight to seven. The back row was just as steady, with UAPB piling up 73 digs as a team to match the Bulldogs' total swing for swing.
UAPB tallied 45 kills on 162 attempts to go with 40 assists, 73 digs and eight total blocks. The Lady Lions also came up with five service aces on the afternoon, a sign of the pressure UAPB kept applying from the service line all match long.
Saturday's win came after the Lady Lions battled in two competitive matches earlier in the Betty Austin Invitational, dropping both before regrouping to close the tournament on a high note. Grinding out the five-set win over South Carolina State snapped UAPB into the win column for the first time this season, evening the Lady Lions' record and giving the program some momentum to build on as the schedule continues.
