Alabama State sweeps Jackson State, 3-0

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The Alabama State volleyball team entered Monday night's match against Jackson State in their usual position near the top of the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings with a 6-2 league record, however, the Lady Hornets were looking for a spark.

Amber Bolden, Nastazia Heholt and Kaitlynn Stoker provided the Lady Hornets with the jolt they were looking for, and Alabama State (10-15, 7-2) cruised to a dominating sweep of the Lady Tigers (25-19, 25-15, 25-20).

While the stats for the trio were not extraordinary, the insertion of the three into action resulted in a style more in line with what head coach Penny Lucas-White expects.

"Those three have been working really hard and have been outperforming the ones on the court and at this point in our season we have to make some changes because what we are doing isn't really working," head coach Penny Lucas-White said. "For Kaitlynn to come in and pass, hit and block that's what we've been needing -- some consistency on the pin. Then Amber with her passing and serving and Nastazia did a great job of setting and running the offense. The kids really work hard and raise their level of play when she is in the game."

BOX SCORE

Bolden – grabbing her first start of 2018 – tallied four digs and two service aces, igniting multiple Alabama State runs. Heholt, seeing action for the first time since an August 31st match against Wofford,, posted a season-high six assists and five digs while Stoker was an asset on both sides of the net, putting away four kills (.333) while digging out two Jackson State (7-16, 5-3) attacks in addition to accounting for two blocks.

Alabama State outhit Jackson State (.226 - .029) and controlled the net defensively, racking up 14 blocks compared to the Lady Tigers' five. Candace Martin was once again a force in all aspects, putting away seven of her 13 attacks (.538) and added to her league-leading block total with seven. Junior Payten Clark teamed with Martin to provide a dynamic duo at the net, leading all Alabama State players with seven blocks. Krysta Medearis led all hitters with nine kills and senior Kori Kutsch was steady with 22 assists and two service aces.

"We definitely need to make some changes if we want to put in a good race for this championship. We need kids to stick to the game plan in order to beat our opponents," Lucas-White said.

The Lady Hornets step out of conference Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa with a match against Alabama at 7 pm.

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